The Price of Freedom
by Stormer403
Summary: Three years after Ganon's death, a much greater evil has appeared and wants blood. An epic in the making, this story takes nightmares and dreams and asks the question: "What if they were real?" In a world where the night devours the day, they are. Prepare to pay the steep cost of the world's Price of Freedom, and live with the consequences.
1. Trailer

Who knew I'd be making a preview? This is for those skeptics who say 'If it's a short story, it isn't good.' I'll be giving song names and artists at certain places, so open a few tabs of Youtube. As a song starts, stop the previous one. This is but a glimpse of the epic that's going to unfold. I'd grab a thing of popcorn. Enough talking, the trailer's starting!

* * *

_Song: After the Fall. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**HYRULE HAS BEEN SAVED.**

Hyrule Castle glitters in the dawn sun, three years after the repairs took place. It is viewed from above, just being able to glimpse at the already bustling Castle Town. The bodies have been cleared off the streets, the barrier is no more, and Ganondorf lies dead. All is good in Hyrule.

_Song: Never Forget. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**BUT THE LAND HAS BEEN FOREVER SCARRED.**

People yell in terror as the darkness advances, mothers and children being stomped on by the great faceless beasts, then to be trampled by the heavier units. A tall, shadowy figure looms in the middle of the destruction, silver helmet looking straight ahead, towards it's prize- Hyrule Castle. Months later, a young Twili imp awakens on that very spot, eyes fluttering to see the man that holds her. When she wakes, she looks at him with an open mouth, trying to say something, but neither of them have any need for words.

_Song: Invincible. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**AND A NEW EVIL, ONE THAT EMBODIES HATRED, WALKS AGAIN.**

The Lux screams and points to the sky, which is slowly blackening like roasted meat, as the darkness' wings lash out at the light. The sixteen-foot tall demon laughs, a sound that echoes across the Archipelago, and commands all to listen. The Antithesis has escaped.

_Song: Young Blood. Artist: Audiomachine._

**MANY WILL TAKE THE FIGHT TO THIS EVIL. SOME WALK ALONE,**

The creature in translucent armor walked over the hill in the rain, gazing upon the battle yet to start. Both sides gazed upon the thing. On the being's face was a slab of stone with eyes and a mouth. The Face Master roared, pulling out it's blade- nearly sixty feet in this form. It had sworn an oath, that it would stop the Antithesis, and that's what the Face Master had intended to do.

_Song: Final Hope. Artist: Audiomachine._

**OTHERS WALK AS ONE.**

The Hylian stood at the center of the line, sword drawn. On his right lay a tall, pale woman with intense red hair. She was charging up a spell of darkness in either hand. On his left stood an eight-foot tall heavily armored creature with a greatsword as long as the Hylian himself. Next to this soldier stood a seven-foot tall troop, clad in leathers and shoulder plates and shirts of mail. The most discernible feature was the faceplate, which glowed orange, with runes engraved in demon's blood. Horns grew from the faceplate, reaching around like a helmet. Behind the faceplate, the soldier wore a hood of chainmail. Next to the sorceress stood a short woman clad in white, a golden bow drawn. The arrows were glowing a vibrant blue. Her solid green eyes stood out from underneath her hood. Next to her stood a seven-five winged creature with shining leather armor. He had drawn a spear and a spell. Next to the faceplated soldier stood a nine-foot tall golem, made out of precious stones and metals and other scraps of life.

_Song: Black Blade. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**EVIL IS UNFORGIVING.**

The Antithesis crushed the baby dragon's skull in one hand, leaving it in dust on the shining stone bridge. The purple clouds would've made it shine brilliantly, if the Lord of the Hollowed wasn't present. He walked to the other side of the bridge, and raised a hand. The nest of spotted dragon eggs below is destroyed by tumbling pieces of the legendary bridge. The mother would be wanting to kill him, but the Antithesis would simply have another trophy. Nobody could follow him now. Especially not that… _thing._

_Song: Archangel. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**AS IS GOOD.**

The man's senses heightened, feeling the area around him with an odd sense of magic. He detected the corrupted guard making his patrols, and smiled. As the man made a fist, the wall glowed alive with runes. He felt nothing as the punch activated the runes, breaking through the wall. The man grabbed the guard by the neck and shoved him down before drawing his sword and putting his blade in the guard's chest in one swift motion.

_Song: United we Stand, Divided we Fall. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**A NEW WORLD IS IN TURMOIL, THREATENED BY THE THINGS THEY REFUSE TO ACCEPT.**

The Hylian stands in the middle of a glorious red carpet, behind him tall ancient wooden doors, as he tries to plead with the circle of seven thrones in front of him. The chairs have moved by magic, all facing the Hylian, who is explaining the dread situation the kingdoms would be in if they did not stop bickering. The kings and queens listen, unaware of the darkness that the sky out the window has taken. Only when the glass shatters inward are they panicked.

_Song: Heart of Courage. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**NOBODY WILL COME OUT WITHOUT SCARS. SOME MAY NEVER COME OUT.**

The faceplated soldier and the soldier with the enormous greatsword stood side by side, weapons drawn, waiting for the dark cloud to advance. "Ready, brother?" The faceplated soldier asked. The soldier with the greatsword nodded, taking a deep breath in. "I have no regrets. Let them come." As the cloud advanced, neither of them noticed the small glowing triangle. Not even the Hylian had the courage to stand with them. "Let them come, for on this day, we win." They whispered as one. The cloud advanced, and the duo charged, knowing they would, in all likelihood, not get out alive.

_Song: To Glory. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**THERE WILL BE A NEW AGE…**

The monster was symmetrically half pure white and half as black as the Antithesis. The eye within the white side was a bright, burning blue, as what would've been white was purple. The pupil of the monster was strikingly white. The other eye had yellow where the white would've been on a human, a red iris, and a black pupil. It had no mouth, instead was a manifestation of will. The boy had become a monster, augmented like no other. In both hands were powerful spells that would require a normal mage to dual cast.

_Song: Protectors of the Earth. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**AND IT WILL BE BROUGHT BY THE WINNER.**

The antithesis was thrown back, only caught by his wings. His armor had started to gain color again, which scared him. Was this creature going to succeed where others had ultimately failed? Would this horror kill him?

_Song: Strength of a Thousand Men. Artist: Two Steps from Hell._

**PREPARE TO FACE DEMONS…**

The water erupted, tentacles nearly one hundred and twenty feet long each burst out, each as black as night.

"_**I AM THAT OF WHICH YOU SEEK." **_A voice that sounded like literal death boomed.

_Song: The Price of Freedom. From: Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core._

**PREPARE TO PAY THE WORLD'S PRICE OF FREEDOM.**

Scenes flash: The Twili jumping onto bed beside the Hylian, The maw of darkness coming out of the cloud of smoke, the man in the purple suit, a dark version of the entire party, Zelda's hand outstretched, Link collapsing in the rain, and last but not least…

The Hylian ascending the staircase to the silver platform where the Antithesis resided.

* * *

Good trailer, right?


	2. Prologue: Of Demons and Heroes

First off, welcome to my new story, The Price of Freedom! I need cover art, I know, I'm still looking. If anyone has any ideas please inform me. Anyway, this story has been spinning around in my head for some time. This is the revised prologue. So, enough of my author's note!

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Cover art is of my own making.

* * *

**Prologue: ****Of Demons and Heroes**

* * *

Balls of small white light started to emit from Midna, Link saw. They ranged from the size of a small bead to nearly Link's hand. Midna followed his gaze and looked down at herself, her eyes going wide. She began to glow white, and the two followed the direction the orbs were going in- they were entering Zelda's body. As they watched, Zelda's eyes fluttered, before opening slightly.

"Pr-Princess…I…I…" Midna sounded like a child having a hard time confessing something.

"Say nothing, Midna," Zelda whispered, just audible enough for them to hear. It was apparent she was still recovering. "Your heart and mine were as one, however briefly. Such suffering you have endured." Midna's lower lip started to quiver as she hung her head slightly downward, as if in shame of something. Zelda pushed herself off of the throne and smiled, then looked from Midna to Link. "Such suffering both of you have endured, the trials you have passed to reach me…" The reunion was cut short from the sound of an igniting flame. Link spun on his heels, followed by Midna, who picked her head up in surprise, and Zelda gasped.

The flames were a bright, burning yellow, formed in the shape of a head, with some sort of odd ball towards the back. White and red burned in the eyes and tongue of the face, which was laughing at them. It swayed slightly, affected by the light wind that had started with the rain.

"Did you really think I'd die that easily?" Ganondorf spat. "I am the king of darkness! You will all bow before me!" The shout rocked the throne room. Ganondorf turned to Link, and emitted a growl. Link growled back, but it sounded more like the Sacred Beast than him. "What do you think you will do when this is all over, hero? You're addicted to it! You won't ever stop looking for an adventure, and it will be the death of you! Face it! You're bound to be a lost, alone, wandering soul _forever!_" Ganondorf bellowed. Part of the Triforce crumbled, kicking up dust that infiltrated the scene, however mellow.

"Well, first, me and Midna here are going to get a hot meal and some rest," Link countered. "After that, we are going to clean up your ashes and put in you the deepest hole we can possibly imagine!" Link's voice raised with each word, ending in a scream. Ganondorf chuckled.

"Does she know about what's inside of you? Do you she? You both have bits of your exact opposite inside of you, yet you try to clear away the very making of what you are." Ganondorf's voice was nigh a whisper. "Clearing away the darkness that takes your very soul is to commit suicide. Would you _really _die for all these ignorant roaches?" Link knew this tactic; it was persuasion- Ganondorf was trying to win them over. Was Ganondorf, King of Darkness, scared of death? _No, _Link decided. _He's just trying to play us. _

Link smiled. "Yes."

"So be it!" Ganondorf roared, and took a long breath in. Midna closed her eyes, and the Fused Shadows came out of her storage. They danced around her in slow motion, beckoning for her to accept the darkness. Link saw this, and screamed. He reached out for her, only to be pulled upwards in black squares, and his last view was the most sincere smile he had seen on his companion.

"See you later, Link." Midna whispered, and the Fused Shadows clamped over her head.

Link and Zelda were dropped in Hyrule Field, able to see the castle in the distance. The sun was setting, and the clouds that had brought a slight rain were moving away. The castle looked black on the background. Link started for Hyrule, when Zelda called his name. He turned, his once hard eyes now turned soft with wet. Zelda gave a sad smile.

"I can still reach her!" Link shouted, and Zelda shook her head.

"No, you can't. She'll be here soon, Link. Have patience." Zelda whispered. No sooner did she stop did Link retort.

"Patience? _Patience?!_ Zelda, she could be dying! Ganondorf could be killing her righ-" Link finished his sentence as the castle exploded. Not a particle of dust flew away from the castle, which was now smoking. "Midna…" Link whispered. Link spotted something coming out of the smoke. He squinted.

Only to find Ganondorf on his nightmarish horse, holding Midna's piece of the Fused Shadow that she wore like her hair. Link's heart shattered, climbing up his throat into his brain. The two seemingly merged, and the Sacred Beast that dwelled within him joined in their chorus of one single word, which rocked Link's world.

_REVENGE._

Link unsheathed the Master Sword and let out a wordless roar, in which Zelda felt his emotions. It started with maddening fury, followed by sadness, which ended the roar in an abrupt fashion. She held out her arm, barely large enough for Link to even feel the presence of, and she nodded.

"Spirits of the Light!" Zelda was shouting as Ganondorf began to approach. Link spotted ghostly visages behind him, watched as the crumbled helmet fell to the ground, and let the riders come. "Wielders of the power that shines far and wide upon the lands of our world!" Ganondorf was closer. Link could smell the sweat, feel the energy reverberating off of the burning white sword as the King of Darkness grew ever closer, seemingly slowed. Link readied the Master Sword, ready to cut into Ganondorf, when Zelda finished. "Grant me the light to banish evil!"

Link was transported, in a white flash, to a realm with light for ground. He stood startled, not bothering to turn around. A white light flashed behind him as he looked at the sky, which was incredibly black.

"Link," Zelda whispered. He turned around, she was right behind him. However, slung over her back was something new- a golden quiver stocked with burning white arrows, laced with gold. "Chosen hero!" Something was different about Zelda's voice, Link decided. It sounded like more than just one person speaking, but thousands. "Lend us the last of your power!" Zelda's eyes were glowing golden. Link realized his eyes were, too. He placed his hand on her outstretched one and the realm faded before their eyes, returning them to Hyrule. They were both on Epona, and Ganondorf was charging them.

"How'd E-" Link began to ask, turning slightly. Zelda shrugged.

"Maybe the spirits put her here. Maybe it was sheer dumb luck. Look out!" She cried suddenly, and Epona backed away as Ganondorf sliced, nearly taking the threesome's heads off. Link instantly retaliated with an uppercut, colliding with the blade. At the word of Link, Epona took off after the King of Darkness atop his mighty mare, which was as black as night. Link held his sword at the ready, murder in his eyes. Ganondorf saw this, and made a swift turn and an attempt to decapitate Link. Instead, Link ducked and made a glancing blow to Ganon's side. Blood spurted from the wound, covering Link's face. Ganondorf clutched his side and turned his mare, which had taken him away from Link.

"Stay on them, mindless beast!" Link heard Ganondorf shout. Epona stopped short and let Ganondorf pass, the ground being torn up like it was but air, which surrendered to the steed. In that time, Epona caught up to Ganondorf, in which Link and he clashed blade to blade. Ganondorf slashed opened Link's right shoulder, the blade entirely missing his sword shoulder and arm. Link cried out in pain before Ganondorf brought up the mighty Sword of the Sages-

But Ganondorf never brought the sword down. An arrow of light impaled his chest with enough force to knock him off his horse. Link leaped off Epona, more like a roll as his shoulder nearly stopped working, as the King of Darkness pulled the arrow, which was covered in blood, out of himself and stood.

"You really would do all this," Ganondorf said, gesturing to Link's bloodstained clothes. "For such lax people? Arguing over who took what when others are debating the fate of a hundred thousand starving citizens? Hyrule has grown plump, Link, and you know it. Why bother with following these thing's rules," Ganondorf whispered, holding up his right hand. On the back of his hand, the Triforce of Power shone with a brilliance that could cut darkness in half. Link whimpered, for the Triforce of Courage also burnt the skin on the back of his left hand. "When you can _own _them?" Link felt a tugging at the front of his mind. He realized Ganondorf was trying to do something to him. Link jerked his head away and broke the connection, which made Ganon snarl. "The more I try to convince you what you're holding is true power, the less you see it!"

"What I see," Link whispered. "Is a man who uses that power for greed and personal gain to get everything he wants! You embraced the power, and look where you are. It consumed you! I'm sure somewhere deep down inside that tar pit you call a soul there's a _miniscule _shard of a person!" Link's voice was small, strained from the pressure of three days of no sleep. He hadn't heard the orange barrier go up around them, or Epona's neigh. Link held up his left hand, and let the Triforce burn him. "I don't want this thing! Look at yourself, you who calls yourself a _person_, when you've you spent your life wallowing in a cesspit of a body with no soul! You're an abomination, and today you die!" Link charged.

Ganondorf blocked the first lazy strikes, content on not letting Link through. After the first few blows, Ganondorf kicked Link's chest, staggering him and forcing the air out of his body. Link gasped for air as Ganondorf turned the table and swung at Link. Link dropped to all fours and tried to roll, going underneath Ganon's midsection. Link slashed at where Ganon's legs parted, hot blood covering the ground underneath him. Ganondorf grunted, and slashed Link, opening up his chest. The muscles in Link's chest shouted, aching for him to stop. But he couldn't, he knew, lest he be killed. Link swung towards Ganondorf's head, and when he went to block, Link stopped mid-strike and sliced Ganon's knees. Ganon growled, thrusting his blade forward.

Link sidestepped, slightly tripping from balance, and launched himself at Ganondorf, who attempted to block. The two swords collided, pushing against the other, one backed up by thousands of years of power and the other fueled by rage. The sparks made Ganondorf look like a laughing pig in the light and it made Link appear as a blood-drenched neonate. In the end, the Goliath fell, pushed back by a severe _snap_ when the sword of sages finally broke. Link leaped atop the foul man and smiled.

"Any last words, Dragmire?" Link whispered, putting the blade of the Master Sword onto Ganon's neck. Ganondorf Dragmire laughed.

"She's dead, boy. Did you really think-_GRAKKURK!"_ The end of Ganondorf's sentence was cut off by Link bringing his blade into the Gerudo's neck. After a second, Link knew that the pig was dead, and pulled his blade out of the corpse. Before the blood came spurting up, Link lay two fingers on Ganon's neck, checking for a pulse. Thankfully, he found none. Link stood from the corpse, listening to the wall of twilight sizzle and fade, his tunic dyed red.

Then, the pain started to set in. His right shoulder was cracked open, it would take a long while for that to heal. His muscles had exceeded their limits under his gored chest. He would need a new tunic, mail shirt, and a bath. In fact, he decided the latter would be what he needed most. Epona snorted, and he turned towards his horse. She was completely blood-free, white hair resembling Snowpeak. Link absentmindedly reminisced Snowpeak, and it's cold.

Most of all, he missed Midna. She had made the beginning part of his journey more cumbersome than it needed to be, but like Rusl said, everyone had baggage. After Zelda had harbored her spirit within Midna, the imp had undergone a change- from the moment she confessed everything about what she was in the Gerudo Desert to when they fought against the cold in Snowpeak to even earlier today, when he had looked her in the eyes and saw someone more, someone that he wanted to stand with and someone that he would've killed for (or had killed for, for that matter) and someone that he would've died for. That alone made him different from Ganondorf. Ganondorf had nothing to die for; but Link did. He first had Orden, then Illia, then the rest of the kids, but Midna... He would put his head on a pike before something would get to her.

He hadn't heard Zelda's soft approach (that seemed to be happening quite frequently lately, Link made a mental note to see if a medic would examine it), and had barely registered the hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be fine again soon, Link," Zelda tried to be comforting, but Link knew better. "We'll search the city for the body and give her a proper burial." At the mention of the words 'body' and 'burial', Link had had too much. It was an exhausting day, he didn't need the weight of sadness on him more than it was already. He shook his head.

"Zelda, it'll never be fine. When you lose someone you traveled your homeland with, lose them because they sacrificed themselves for _you_, it hurts." Link whispered, barely restraining himself. "It feels like someone ripped out whatever was left of that person, and held it in front of you, for you to gaze, as they crushed the memory even further." Sadly, Link knew from personal experience.

"Link, look-" Zelda started.

"To where? Your smoking castle?" Link snapped, and bit his tongue. "Sorry, I just-"

"It's fine. You're hurting. Though, seriously, look there." Zelda said, pointing over the base of the hill they were standing on. The light spirits had gathered around a crouched form, and he heard a familiar laugh. Without saying a word, Link took off.

He ran up the hill so fast that he barely stopped his muscles from collapsing when they hit flat ground. Midna was no longer there, only a pile of black cloth. Link scratched the back of his head as his other shoulder detested the action, wondering where she had ran off to, until the cloth started to rise. In some areas, the robe had splashes of what appeared to be gears in circles, with grey markings running the length of the robe.

The woman wearing the robes had light blue skin like Lake Hylia in the sun. The woman's left leg was completely black, where her right leg held blue tattoos and a silver anklet. Around her right leg was a piece of the same cloth, which had been held onto her frame by what appeared to be a curved silver branch. The woman's arms, to her wrists, were black, covered in the same blue markings. Her hands were the same color as her face, a pale blue. The inside of the black cloth was teal, with grey markings. Her nose and mouth were small, but still alluring to Link. Her eyes were yellow with red irises, which seemed to be drinking in Link. Her hair came down in an orange cascade, flowing to a central point which was tied with a silver clamp. A puff of magnificent orange exited the other side of the clamp. In the center of this odd woman's forehead lay a single red gem, which was surrounded on either side by silver Cs. The Cs had a limb that reached back, like thin antlers. The woman smiled.

"What? Say something! Am I so beautiful that you've no words left?" The unmistakable voice of Midna taunted. Link's mouth cracked open with a gape.

"Mid-Midna?" He asked in a small voice. Midna started to laugh.

"Who else would it be, stupid wolf?" Midna taunted, taking a step towards him.

"You're alive." He croaked, still unbelieving this was Midna. Link ran to her and embraced her quickly, holding his friend to his chest. "You're alive." He repeated.

"Link?" Midna whispered.

"Yes?"

"You're bruising my bones." Link immediately let go, and saw that she was covered from her knees to her chest in blood-Link had rubbed it off on her. He put his arms on the lower chest wound."I think the old wolf has learned a few new tricks." she whispered, giving off her signature fanged smile.

"What did you think, I'd die, Mid?" Link chuckled. "I am one hard dog to put down." Link grinned wolfishly. Midna took off his hat and ruffed up his hair.

"How bad did he get you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter. Everything heals in time, except for when I put my blade through his neck." Midna picked up at this, eyes shimmering with excitement.

"He's dead!" She whispered excitedly, it was more of a statement then a question. Link nodded.

"How could that guy possibly live through a blade in his neck and a cut down south? Even I'd be a sucker for that." Link said. Midna let out a squeal of glee before sending a bolt of shadow magic into the sky. "What was that for?" Link asked, suddenly aware that the motion of turning his head upwards strained his slash.

"Compliments of the chef." Midna placed her hands on her hips, before watching the shadow bolt came down with a burst of water. Link hissed as the water sprayed his wounds, making them further sting, but did not complain.

"You decided that I'm a meal?" Link asked.

"Well, it depends on who you ask. To some birds of prey, probably. However," Midna raised on finger, and put it on Link's nose. "I decided that since I taught you everything you know, I should be known as the chef." Link searched his pack while she talked, looking for red potion. "What's the matter?" Her voice was now filled with concern more than humor.

"I'm just looking for some red potion, which doesn't seem to be in my pack. Could you check the Shadow Vault?" Link asked, gently removing her finger.

Instead of answering, she removed his arms from where they cover up the wound, eyes going wide. Midna snapped her head up to look at Link while mentally checking the Shadow Vault, where they had stored next to everything they had found. "You just had to go and cover it up?! Honestly, sometimes I think you'd like to die!" She snapped, before finding the bottle. She retrieved the bottle and handed it to Link, who placed it in his pouch for now. She also had brought bandages, and upon bending down, saw the extent of the cut.

Link's lower midsection was covered in blood. The cut was nearly two inches wide on the shortest parts, nearing four on the longest. The muscles looked lacerated, splitting underneath the pressure of Link's very breath. She cursed when she saw green liquid starting to form.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's starting to become infected, I've no doubt." Midna said, shooting her eyes up at him from where she bent over. She noticed that Zelda was walking up behind them, guiding Epona, who walked lazily up the slope.

"Thanks, Midna. Do you mind checking the one on my shoulder while I apply the bandages?" Link asked as he unrolled the cloth strips. "I might need you to apply the bandages there, if you can, while I take the potion," Midna examined the cut to find the same fate when Link handed the bandages to her. A few seconds later she heard the pop of the potion and Link's groan after he drank it. "Why do potions always taste like urine with leaves and sugar?" He asked aloud.

"I do not want to know how you know that flavor." Midna replied, patting the strip of cloth onto Link's body..

"Midna?" Zelda asked. Midna turned to Zelda, expression questioning. "Do you think he needs healing magics?" Zelda asked. Link turned around to catch Midna's nod.

"I'm standing right here, you know," He said, meeting Zelda's hard gaze. "Shouldn't you ask the patient if he feels like he needs help before asking his friend?"

"I saw those wounds, how much endurance can one man possibly have?" Zelda told Link, standing cross-armed.

"Enough to walk back into town." Link replied. Link started ahead of them at a small pace, brushing Epona on the way.

"You girls coming or what?" He asked, and Midna rolled her eyes with a smile. She followed him, thanking Zelda as the princess tried to guide Epona again. From afar, the threesome looked like an odd bunch, but up close, people could feel the power hanging in the air. Something changed in all of three of them that day.

* * *

High Warden Davos Screhkia entered the prison through the pressed silver door. It was thin like paper, yet still held a certain strength that made it slightly hard to move. His heavyset frame intimidated the other jailors, and they were the best at what they did. Davos' shining white armor and armaments illuminated the dull grey hall behind the door, where another figure entered his view. This jailor was of a moderate build, wearing a shirt of mail over leather padding. This jailor's wings were folded behind his back, stone with white and blue specks of cold. The Lux's blue skin was clearly visible underneath his helm, the top section of a dragon skull with a pointed blade on the front that covered from his nose up. Burning yellow eyes with no pupils were visible underneath it.

"Davos." The Lux responded in an intrigued voice, and in a great flash the stones retreated from the Lux's wings and he spread them, magnificent feathers of water, ever changing, reflecting Davos' large frame which scraped the ceiling of the grey hall, wearing blinding white armor that only made his shining blue eyes seem brighter. Davos' wings were brilliant yellow burning orbs that followed him in a cape when they folded. The Lux folded his wings again in a flash, stone and cold returning to them.

"Thundros. Glad to see you're alive and well." Davos' hearty voice boomed. Thundros laughed.

"A few Kersala can't take me down that easily. Who've you come to see to their deaths today?" Thundros asked, folding his arms.

"Xul." Came Davos' more quiet reply. Thundros looked to the side, where the wall met the floor. Davos followed his gaze, looking at the cracks mending themselves under Thundros' gaze.

"That pig deserves on the spot execution, friend." Thundros spoke in a whisper- the voice that most Lux's hasted, for it made them sound far too alike the demons the Lux fought to protect the Archipelago.

"Don't use your Forbidden Voice. You're starting to sound like Xul." Davos growled, and lay his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I am permitted to be Executioner for today, as Xul is too dangerous to guide to Execution." Thundros picked up at this, sparks igniting in his eyes.

"I would love to assist you." Thundros said in a giddy voice, holding his hands palm up to the ceiling. An orb of light originated in between his hands, which continued to expand, and shape to Thundros' clawed plate gauntlet. The light stopped glowing when the pointed stick was nearly six feet long, another blade spouting from some way below the crystalline short spear's glowing blue blade. The second blade had a green hexagonal gem inset, which hummed with a familiar energy. The second blade formed a U shape, the gem floating in midair, the ends of the conduit reaching the bottom of the point of the spear, which was a foot long.

"What's the spell for?" Davos asked as Thundros shrunk it with a flick of his hand, and laid it into the socket in the middle of his chest.

"Amplification of spells cast in the direction pointing. It's an adept utility spell." Thundros explained, before leading Davos down the hall. On the walls were thousands of little slits in the wall, each marked with initials. Thundros turned right, and the hallway expanded into a large circular room. A smaller circle was implanted onto the ceiling, opening it like a skylight. The room danced with wards both in the air, clicking and intervals and ever shifting, and ingrained into the walls. The floor was more solid here, nearly twelve feet deep. The light from the morning sun drizzled down into the room, making the spot where a slit in the ground shine. Around the slit lay lighter colored ground, and even the floor by the exits were lighter. This was the result of the extensive warding.

The slit was blackened parchment stuffed into a hole, and written in the parchment were three letters: XUL. Thundros lay his hand over the slit of parchment, and made a fist. To the naked eye, nothing was happening. However, to one that was familiar in magic, they could see thousands of thin, small, clear tethers down to the piece of parchment. Once all the tethers were attached, Thundros yanked, and a circle rose from the ground.

The circle was nearly twenty feet in diameter, taller than even the Archons. The circle had a flat bottom, allowing it to stand perfectly still. Glassy steps ascended to the front of the circle, where a scene straight out of a nightmare took place.

Crystalline jagged, bladed spines and steady, hard, sharp spires rose up from seemingly nowhere and twisted and writhed around a central mass, not even stained, yet dripping with an essence. The central mass had stopped moving, yet the spires and spines kept twisting. The central mass was a sixteen foot tall humanoid creature with wings and limbs the thickness of tree trunks. It was wearing midnight colored plate, two bladed arms like pincers emerging from the shoulders, reaching down towards the stomach. The arms had one pincer emerging from where the piece would connect to the shoulder pauldrons, except these were thicker. The gauntlets themselves were clawed _and _spiked, making a punch surprisingly deadly. Some way above the wrists was an indentation, which held a black hexagonal gem that seemed to suck in the light around it. The greaves had another indentation like this, as well did the boots, however the boots had a feature the greaves did not. The boots had small knives coming from the heels, in shape of wings. On the back of Xul were wings- but wings not like Davos had seen. These wings were tendrils of horrific black smoke, lashing out at the bubble they were trapped in with intense speed. Xul wore a hood that concealed his face entirely. He threw back his head and let out an unnerving laugh.

"At your service, High Warden." His voice seemed to eat at their minds, commanding them to listen. Davos drew his blade, marble with three inlaid enchantments to tear at the dark, be stronger than steel, and to burn the dark in completely, as Thundros revealed his spear. "Aah, Moondrake and Leviathan." Xul mocked, looking at each weapon. "It's been a while."

"Silence, beast," Davos growled. "Or should I say your full title? Antithesis of the Archons, Demon of the Archipelago, Th-"

"-e Lord of the Hallowed, yes, yes, I am aware of my titles quite clearly." For some reason, Xul was cheerful. It shook Davos to the bone, but he wouldn't portray weakness in front of a monster. Xul would exploit that weakness so much that Davos would become beyond recognition.

"You have been sentenced to death by my hand." Davos shouted. If they could see Xul's face, they would've seen him smiling.

"You would kill me? I'm hurt, Davos, I really am." Xul's voice still wasn't taking this seriously. Davos approached, ascending a step, when Xul cut in again. "Look, no hands!" He yelled joyfully, showing his unbound gauntlets. Davos' eyes widened to their capacity before the shockwave ripped everything apart.

It came from within Xul, a wave of wind clearly visible. A _whomp _sound could be heard before it reached the glass holding Xul, shattering it on impact. The sound of the wave was drowned by the shattering of nearly _millions _of shards of glass flew into the air. Davos was thrown back, somersaulting into the air. His wings caught him, extending their brilliance. Thundros held up his arm to block his eyes and channeled a bubble in the other arm. The air distorted around him, glass turning against his shield. Xul growled.

"You want to do this the hard way? Fine, let's use bladed swords instead." Xul growled, and his wings ripped the jagged spires out of his body. No blood spilled from the grievous wounds. Xul raised a clawed finger at Thundros. Davos screamed a wordless battlecry, folding his wings into a dive, Moondrake ready to go through the Antithesis' face.

Davos watched in what seemed like slow motion as one of the spires turned and rushed towards Thundros. Thundros lowerd his arm, squinting to try to see what Davos was getting at, when the killing machine entered his chest and went through cleanly, piercing the wall. Thundros let out a terrified cry, which was shut up as another spire entered his face. Davos finally seemed to reach Xul, and put his blade through the face in the hood. The demon fell with the blade, landing on the floor. Davos ripped it out of the monster yet let it hang above it's face, not bothering to look at his friend. They were both dead.

Until Xul's hand gripped Moondrake and the explosive energy discharged, sending Xul on his buttocks towards the wall, still holding the blade, where Davos hit the wall head-first. The High Warden was overwhelmed with rage and confusion. The Antithesis wasn't dead from a stab in the face! And why didn't the wards work!

"Disabled by yours truly, honestly such pesky work, " Xul said, taking the pommel of Moondrake and clipping it to one of his pincers. The blade pointed straight, towards Davos. "Your barriers are dead. As is your friend. And if you don't leave here now, you are too." Xul's voice was dark, rank with fury. Davos snickered.

"And let you, The Lord of the Hallowed, run free?" Davos was starting to bellow. "You shall not pass me, monster!" And the unarmed Lux charged. Xul shook his hood head, allowing Davos to spot the wound-which didn't exist. He somehow regenerated his armor.

What Davos did not see was Moondrake being given to Xul's wings, which tore it apart. In fact, they made eight new Moondrakes- one for each wing. As Davos closed in, one hand glowing a yellow-white, Xul held his right hand back. His was sucking in the light in the room, making it seem like dusk. Davos' mind pumped through the charge. Was he really about to die? He had a family to return to. No, he had to! Davos decided to continue, and began to launch his fist into Xul's face when the demon's wings flew behind the High Warden, and in a matter of seconds Davos saw eight Moondrakes soaked with white blood pierce his chest, his magically enhanced fist falling limp as the Moondrakes curled and entered through his sides. He vomited blood, looking at his wounds, and then back up at the Antithesis. Xul closed in on him, and punched him in the face.

His spiked gauntlets and the force behind the punch broke Davos' helmet on contact, giving him a mild concussion as the swing hit his right cheek. The magic kicked in once it detected the signature of Lux blood, igniting his entire body from the inside. The spikes ripped through his cheek, tearing it apart, snapping his tongue. He silently wondered why this had to happen. As the punch exited his face, the spell discharged throughout Davos. Black lightning licked his body thoroughly in less than half a second. Davos' body went limp.

Xul, The Antithesis, had killed High Warden Davos Screhkia and Guardian Thundros Zzixkcla.

Xul examined his work as his wings uncoiled from Davos' body. The Lord of the Hollowed walked into the direct center of the light, and spread his wings, fifty feet across. With a _vwhomp_, Xul broke through the top of the prison and took in the Archipelago.

It was a collection of islands with bridges going between it as far as the eye could see. And Xul could see quite far from this height.

It was time to begin, he decided as his mere presence darkened the sky slightly. People began noticing him.

Yes, now was as good a time as any.

* * *

The threesome of Link, Midna, and Zelda stood at the Mirror of Twilight, exchanging goodbyes.

"Shadow and light are two sides of the same coin. I believe it was in the Goddess' plan for us to meet, and that we may see each other again someday." Zelda announced. Midna nodded.

"Zelda… Your words are kind and your heart is true. If all people in Hyrule are like you… You'll do alright." Midna said. Zelda nodded. Midna turned to Link. "Well, Link, the princess' words ring true; as long as the Mirror still stands, we can visit each other." Midna proclaimed.

"I'll be there." Link replied. The Twili nodded.

"Good. I could use someone like you to help me rebuild." Zelda opened her mouth, but closed it in the same motion, making a loud _click_. Midna ran up the runed white stairs towards where the Mirro was aiming. "Link…I…" Midna whispered, and then she shook her head, a tear of yellowed light dripping onto the floor. It made a metallic ring when it dropped to the floor, and remained, like a small orb of light. A smile crossed her face.

"Hey, it's not forever. Rusl told me that a wise man once said that," Link began, Zelda looked at him curiously. "'Whenever there is a meeting, a parting shall follow. But that parting needs not last forever. Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short while… that is up to you.'" Link had looked up while he recited this, and had noticed that his two companions followed his gaze. Midna sighed.

"Who was that from?" Midna whispered. Link turned to her, befuddled. "The wise man sounds more like a prophet." Her eyes wandered towards. "I'll miss you." Link nodded, absorbing the sound of their voices as they echoed off of the Arbiter's Grounds.

"I will be there soon. I promise." Link whispered. Midna flicked her hand, activating the Mirror, which made many different sounds. Zelda jumped, for she had been standing just next to the mirror. The mirror spilled white behind Midna onto the slab of obsidian. Another metallic tear hit the floor as Midna disappeared in, instead of the black squares that he was so accustomed to when warping, white squares. After she had gone, the tears remained, yet the stairs did not- and the most recent tear fell, another metallic sound ringing out.

"Would you come back to the castle with me, Link?" Zelda whispered. Link turned, and she caught a glimpse of his eyes that were soft like ponds instead of stones. She blinked, and the softness had left.

"I'm no good with a pickaxe, but maybe that mole could show me." Link murmured.

None of them could've foreseen the coming storm.

* * *

No pun intended with the final line, ladies and gents.


	3. Chapter 1: Three Years Later

Well, here's the next part. Had a hard time getting this one up for some reason. I might have to start rating the chpaters, I don't want anyone to see something too gorey or too violent. As to answer a reviewer, that was only the prologue. Wait and see. Enough blabbering and onto the next part!

* * *

**Chapter 1: Three Years Later**

* * *

Everything good came in time, Link decided.

In three years, the nation of Hyrule went from broke and near-rioting to prosperous once more. If one had stood high above Hyrule for those years, they could see the progress that the Hylians made. Steel from the Goron Mines was used to resupply the army's arms and armor and sell to a few surrounding countries, allowing the Goron economy to grow. The Zora began swimming downstream and selling their Reekfish, with the help of Yeto and Yeeta, which they proclaimed was a delicacy if you could get past the smell. Enough people ate the Reekfish, which increased the demand, making the Zora economy flow. The Hylians were using these products in the reconstruction of the castle, which had been blown to bits in Midna and Ganondorf's battle. Today, the castle was not only made of stone but silver- a necessary precaution.

And, Link thought as he put his blade; a simple blade of chastened metal that Rusl had originally intended to gift the Royal Family with, in the ground, things were looking up. Somehow, he had become a tutor for Zelda's elite guard, teaching them the way he fought instead of the drills. It was hard to just forget everything they've ever learned in a field and learn a new style, but that was Link's way. The elite guards, men and women with profound knowledge of the shield and _spear_, had looked upon the sword as a weapon of officers. Link had proven that otherwise, for he, a lowly farmhand, had bested each one of them in single combat against their spears. Now, they looked upon the sword as a mighty weapon.

"You, you, and you." Link selected three of the ten at random. They were sweating buckets in the summertime sun, wearing a shirt of mail and leather padding underneath. Above the mail were a few strips of cloth, each enchanted. "Report to Zelda. Demonstrate what you've learned in the throne room. You should find a dummy in front of the throne, one for each of you. Try not to break it too bad, for everyone else will be using them." The guards saluted and ran up the castle steps, amidst the bustling streets of bakers and cooks and Zoras and Gorons. After two other groups, only one guard was left.

"Sir?" The guard asked. "May I attempt at the dummies?" This was Ros Druthmar, the fastest learner in the entire guard. Link shook his head.

"I have a better dummy for you, Druthmar." Link said, pointing around the back of the castle with a thumb. "Follow me." The castle had also been built seemingly longer, therefore reaching the back took more time than Link had remembered when he and Midna stormed it. Behind the castle, clamped down, was a Lizalfos. Druthmar immediately drew his sword, noting the growling lizard-man's three foot long curved blade. Link untied the clamps, the Lizalfos completely ignoring him.

"S-Sir? How do I fight this thing?"

"Go for the tail." Link called from behind it.

"What if it hurts me?"

"You should be asking if it mortally wounds you. If this guy does, I'll have my blade in his neck before he can count to one." Link replied. The Lizalfos, now free, thumped a tail, which Druthmar could only see when it was up, up and down. The Lizalfos charged.

Druthmar blocked the initial strikes, looking for an opening. He remembered what Link had said, and slashed the lizard across the face. It looked stunned, as if this puny human could hurt it. After landing a quick strike on Ros' arm, it started fighting much more defensively, allowing Druthmar to bash it's sword away with his shield, and Link did not foresee what happened next.

Druthmar bashed the beast again before putting his blade through the Lizalfos' face. The creature fell without a sound, allowing Link to see Druthmar. His upper torso and arms were bloodied, from where he had hit the monster and it he. His faceplate was down, now stained red, and his visor slit had barely escaped being splashed. Druthmar put his sword, steel with a greyed hilt, into the ground near the Lizalfos' body. He put a foot on the beast and opened his faceplate to see Link's slightly startled expression. Ros Druthmar was a fairly tall, chastened man. He was not as built as Link, but almost. His eyes were a deep forest green, which almost appeared black. His oval-shaped head had a hard time fitting in a helmet, which was why he wore a faceplate on a strap instead. His features were not cold, or warm- some areas, like his cheekbones, ended sharply, but his chin was more forward yet small. His nose was slight in width yet a small deal longer than average.

"I couldn't reach the tail, Sir." Ros shrugged.

"Hand me your sword." Link commanded. Druthmar picked it up and handed the hilt to Link. "How did you accomplish this? Even the Master Sword couldn't pierce a Lizalfos' face- trust me, I've tried." Link questioned.

"I started with the flat of my blade to make the cut, if you saw. After it went on the defensive, it left the wound open, so I exploited it, and shoved the blade through. That was really all, Sir." Link cursed himself for not thinking of that before. He handed the blade back to Druthmar and smiled.

"Excellent work. Now, let's go tell the princess what you've accomplished."

* * *

_It has been three years, and he still hasn't come_. Midna thought. _Was I too forward with my goodbye?_ She had been pacing up and down the hallway adjacent to the throne room. _What do I honestly expect? Repairing a castle takes time_, the rational part of Midna said. The corridor was large and carpeted in the center, intricate designs weaving into the blue fiber. A door lay on the right, another behind her, which is the one she had taken to get here. _It's been so… Boring, to say the least._ The selfish part of Midna retorted. _Honestly, where's an adventure when you want one?_ This made her rational side flair. _You do realize that's pretty much spot on of what Ganon said would happen- you'd become addicted to adventure._

"I am _not _addicted to adventure!" Midna whispered to herself. She slumped down towards the wall and crossed her legs in thought. _Then why are you waiting for something to come? Do you not want to be what you are?_ Midna hated the rational side of herself. "I am a princess, and I will not abandon my people for such…" _Amazing, epic, unbelievable adventures? _The selfish side of her finished. Midna put her head in her hands. "Why am I fighting with myself?" She asked nobody in particular.

After the death of Ganondorf, things swiftly got better for the Twili. They hadn't taken much damage at all in the palace, which was repaired within the space of a year. For two years, it had been settling debates and petty arguments once more. The longer she remained Twilight Princess, the more she yearned to be in the world of Light again and go on adventures with Link.

The subject of Link was a mixture of emotions for Midna. She never had wed, and the thoughts of her most trusted friend being on the throne next to her, not that she'd ever admit it, didn't seem too bad. She could-would, never do that to him, for they knew each other best, and she knew he was an adventurous soul. She could never tether him down like that. But…

When she had broken the barrier of Hyrule, when they had gazed into each other's eyes for nearly half a minute, she couldn't deny she felt something there.

This was not the time to being thinking these thoughts, Midna decided. Getting up, she decided that she would play it by ear and see how things turned out.

She was thrown onto the ground again, her left ankle twisted at a horrible degree, when the entire palace started shaking.

* * *

The man wearing the heart-shaped mask looked up at the castle and smiled. Soon, it would be all his.

"Mrathil?" A husky voice from behind him asked. Mrathil turned around and saw none other than Azzonoth.

Azzonoth had morphed in the twilight. He was a nine-foot tall humanoid with dark blue skin. He had become incredibly toned, which gave him an interesting look since he refused to wear clothes. Along his skin etched were little runes, small enchantments that ran the length of his body. At his wrists spawned a long knife-like hook, which pointed towards his body. His calloused blue hands were incredibly rough, and had spawned suckers on his palms. His head was the shape of a nut with edges, lines of sharp, needle-thick teeth lined his mouth. Above his mouth lay an upturned nose, making it appear that he had only nostrils. Eight eyes were placed above his nose, each bright orange with no pupils. From the sides of his head spurted two C shaped horns, both ending in a venomous point. Azzonoth had carried a quadruped animal with a black hide over one shoulder. It had antlers pointing backwards, ending in little bushes of fur. Mrathil recognized this as the Twilight equal of a deer. To most others, he was an intimidating visage. To Mrathil, he was like a son.

"Hmm?" He asked, nodding towards the deer.

"Dinner. That's not what I was going to ask you, though," Azzonoth replied, laying the Twilight Deer down and starting to gut it. "What I was going to ask is when your friend is coming." Mrathil had almost forgotten about his friend. It had been three years since he had brought Azzonoth into the Twilight, three years since Azzonoth had changed, three years since he had made his plans with Xul.

"He should be arriving soon." Mrathil said in a wistful tone. Azzonoth snorted.

"You don't sound too sure." Came his low reply. Mrathil nodded.

"I'm not. I think I felt a burst of his energy, but since we're in another realm, I can't be so sure," Mrathil shrugged. "If it was him, though, he'll likely be coming for us as soon as he can."

"Are you sure he didn't forget about us?" Azzonoth asked no sooner than Mrathil finished. He took the last part, the heart, out of the deer and started a fire. Mrathil nodded.

"He never forgets things. He wouldn't-" He was interrupted by the sound of the Twilight Palace shaking. The duo jumped a collective foot. "Now's our time to get up there." Mrathil said, and reached into his heavy leather cloak. He pulled out a rounded blue gem, and threw it on the ground between him and Azzonoth. It cracked opene, and in a flash of light, the two were gone.

* * *

"Link," Zelda said to the Hero, who's head was bowed and was on one knee. "Rise and be knighted." Link's eyes shot open. He was looking at the red carpet on the castle floor. Ros was kneeling as well, for the Princess had called them both here. Link stood up, however he shook his head.

"Princess, my apologies, but I cannot become a knight." Zelda blinked slowly, than she nodded. She turned to Ros.

"Will you become a knight, Ros Druthmar?" Zelda asked.

"Only if her Majesty wills it." Ros replied.

"Then rise, and become the first knight of the new Hyrule." Zelda proclaimed. Ros rose, and bowed to the princess.

"Thank you, your Majesty. I will not let you down." The happiness in Ros' voice was disguised, yet still visible to anyone with slightly more powerful senses. Zelda nodded.

"If you will accept it, I have a task for you both," The Hero and the Knight nodded simultaneously. "Scouts have spotted something in the air above the Gerudo Desert. I contacted them by scrying and saw the object myself. It is an enormous, winged creature, with a wingspan of at least forty feet. I want both of you on reconnaissance," Zelda commanded. The Hero and the Knight saluted. "Before I dismiss you," Zelda said, "Ros Druthmar, your new horse is in the stables outside the castle along with Epona," Ros had known of Epona, for he had heard plenty of ways to take a rider off horseback. Link had the scars to prove it. The Princess looked at both of the strong men, and smiled. "Dismissed."

* * *

The Palace wasn't shaking, it was _moving_, Midna realized. She also knew that her ankle was now broken.

"Where is the Princess?!" Midna recognized this voice as Garan Nath, her bodyguard. He was screaming.

"Garan! I broke my ankle! What's going on?" She called. He heard her, and came rushing in. Garan was a small Twili, but incredibly fast. He rushed in, wearing a full set of Twili plate. The small Twili had reddish black sheets of metal covering his bodice. Only his eyes, yellow and red with green irises, were visible. He looked over the ankle, and nodded.

"It's broken alright," He yelled over the movement of the castle. He fumbled in a pouch on his belt, taking out a stick of polished blue bone. He placed it over her head. "We don't have any time to heal it. I don't know what's going on, but just stay calm," The bone levitated when he let go, and around Midna sparked a shield. It was white, like the mountain of Snowpeak, and when she put her hand to it the barrier felt like solid metal. "I'll find a healer and be back in a second." Garan reached behind his head, and pulled down his faceplate. It was a shield with no eye sockets, Midna saw, as he opened the door.

Garan Nath never made it out of the door.

The windows, which had shown the serene twilight, now were filled with a white light and Midna's stomach became a rock. She recognized the light, and felt the heat from the Gerudo Desert enter the Palace. Garan screamed, and fell limp in his armor.

The Palace of Twilight was pulled into the Light Realm.

However it didn't end there. She felt as if the Palace was flying, and her skin burnt. Prolonged exposure to the twilight slightly weakened her temperance to light. Her skin changed from a light blue to white, like a ghost. Pain shot up from her ankle as the Palace flipped, and then all was dark and quiet save for the humming sound of the barrier her bodyguard had put up moments before he died.

* * *

Link and Ros entered the armory with haste in their steps. Link immediately went to grab a sword while Ros went for a change of armor. Link scanned over the selection of racked swords, picking a sword with a grey-green handle and a pommel like smoke. The blade itself was a dark shade of grey, and looked run down. Link had picked it for the green rune inscribed on the blade, however. Ros had selected two short sleeved shirts of mail instead of one, keeping his cloth scarf instead wrapped around his sword wrist. He wore leather armor underneath it, originally brown, now somewhat blackened in some areas and splotches of red covered it. On the leather armor was an incantation, which rested in the left palm of the gloves. Ros had quickly thrown on a brown robe tied with rope, for the hood masked his faceplate. He nodded to Link, who was waiting with his new sword by the door, and the two left the armory.

As they walked to the stables, they were given odd looks. Nobody recognized an elite guard underneath the robe, or even saw the sword he held at his waist. His boots muffled his sound, making him appear like a leathery apparition. They made more haste towards the stables, where Epona, who was slightly grey, waited. She was munching on hay as the two entered the dusty stables, white light gracing the mare's face. The next stall over lay a white horse, bigger and stronger than Epona. The horse also wore steel armor, glittering like gold, on the face and neck. Hanging from a loose bit of steel lay a sheet of parchment with a metal rod connecting the loose plate to the horse. It read 'Herald'. Ros smiled behind his faceplate.

Two hours later, the Hero and the Knight were riding towards Lake Hylia, towards the cannon that had shot Link and Midna out the first time. Link bit his lip at the sight of the cannon, which was still pointed in the direction of the city in the sky. He had forgotten to visit the Twilight Realm last year, the duties that Zelda had required were too large for him to make space.

He wished that Midna would forgive him, now that he remembered.

* * *

Mrathil held a hand up to the light of the morning sun in the Gerudo Desert, hissing as it threatened to warm his mask, which kept cool throughout. It was as if his mask was blessing him with cold in the sun. He had landed on all fours in front of a shining silver mirror with gold edges. Azzonoth had landed beside him, grasping the stones and particles of sand with wonder. Mrathil reminded himself that he took Azzonoth from the Lost Woods, not from the Desert.

"Why is it so hot here?" Azzonoth complained, and got up. His face went small when he saw who was standing in front of them. Mrathil lifted himself up slowly, than looked into Xul's hood. The Antithesis had drawn power from the sun by simply being there, making it cooler than it usually was in the desert. His wings were stroking an abomination that sat beside him.

The abomination was a quadruped that neared seven-feet tall by Mrathil's estimate. It's skin was a dark grey with strikes and smears of black, areas of the monster tensing and drooping at random intervals. It had no face, replaced by a maw that looked like a Deku Baba's mouth, but matched the thing's size- which was almost as tall as Mrathil himself. It had no eyes, instead having more teeth than anything Mrathil had ever seen. Two holes lay on the top of the abomination's snout, and two lay on either side of the small blob that was the thing's head. They were too high to be eyes, so Mrathil guessed these were ears and noses- a creature without sight was plausibly more dangerous than a creature with sight. Black, pointed bones pierced it's back with every breath, making the creature appear to have surfacing spikes. A long grey tail waved back and forth slowly, ending in what seemed like thousands of prickly spikes. The worst part was the paws- they were blackened human hands. Mrathil visibly winced.

"Xul, what is that thing?" He whispered, pointing at the monster. It looked up, and growled. Xul patted it's snout, and it lowered the maw again.

"The father of a new species," Xul responded, looking between the two who had spent years in the Twilight. Then he noticed Azzonoth's expression. "Never told him about me, eh?" The Antithesis remarked, spreading his wings-they each touched a sage's base. "Killed by yours truly for this to work." The wings pulled down sage masks, white faces with slits for eyes and a small beard. Azzonoth extended his elbow. Xul raised an invisible eyebrow.

"My wrists have hooks coming out of them, Sir," Azzonoth explained, showing the blades. "I would not wish to hurt you." Xul laughed.

"Hurt me with hooked blades? Not a problem, boy. If you hadn't noticed, this is armor," Xul's voice was amused. He held up an arm, which absorbed a fraction of the light around it. "And don't call me Sir. Xul will suffice."

"Okay, Xul," Azzonoth nodded, then pointed to the creature. "What exactly are we going to do with that thing?" Xul's wings covered it's earholes.

"Don't call it a thing, it has a heart," Xul snapped. "And my brainchild is going to eradicate any survivors." Xul pointed with his thumb behind him, to a standing hole in the sand where the Palace of Twilight had crashed.

"Do you really think any Twili would've survived?" Mrathil asked, crossing his arms. Xul frowned.

"I know one that would've. One that did, for that matter."

* * *

Midna shouted with pain when she tried to get up. Her ankle, in addition to her to right arm, was broken. Where was she? She couldn't see her left hand in front of her face. It was a nightmarish setting.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Midna called, finally getting up. "Did anybody survive?" She was only asking these questions for her own sake. She subconsciously knew that they were all dead, if not from the sun, from the crash. The barrier kept her alive, but broke her arm in the process. She hadn't begun feeling it till now. Popping her arm bone back into place, she grunted with pain.

If she could just find Garan's body, he usually had a scroll of healing upon him. She prayed that Fate had rigged the game in her favor.

* * *

Link and Ros had advanced into the Gerudo Desert, leaving their horses in the care of the cannon owner, through the early morning sun. Morning was slowly fleeting, they'd have to make a shelter in the sand soon. However, they'd find this anomaly that they saw crash into the sand. The Hero and the Knight went to three different possible crash sites, all of which were flukes.

However, this site had a hole. Bingo.

The hole was set deep into the sand, and was big enough to fit Hyrule Castle in. It looked like a pit, yet a purplish-blue glow emanated from within, igniting the darkness. The sand was apparently afraid of the hole, only little drops of sand daring to enter it. From the shape of the hole, it looked like it could've entered at an upside down U trajectory, which would've meant that it would've come from… The Mirror of Twilight.

* * *

Mrathil was confused.

"Why bother with taking out the majority of the Twilight realm when our goal is this world?" Mrathil asked, looking into Xul's hood. Xul pointed to the Mirror of Twilight.

"Because that thing exists. Without it, this world wouldn't receive help from a certain Twili," Xul growled. "But because she decided not to break it, I decided to break her. And, if I'm reading the mana signatures correctly," Xul turned to a hole in the desert sand, where two figures were standing. "She's still alive."

* * *

Link rolled into the hole, looking around. A slight blue-purple glow made the cavern appear like a Q to Link, and as Ros jumped down, landing on both feet, Link discerned that they were in the little off section of the Q. Something big was just ahead.

What was this thing, glowing with an inhumane light and making such an odd tunnel?

Link stepped on something squishy, and looked down. There was a slight indentation in the ground shaped like an S, and it was filled with blue goop. He closed his eyes, and dug deep into his soul. Link hoped that he would not regret what he was about to do. Finding the essence of the beast, he drug it out into the light. Ros could've sworn Link's eyes sparkled with green for a moment.

The Sacred Beast materialized in Link's mind, snoring next to the channel of goop. When he sensed Link looking at him, the tall wolf stretched and yawned.

_Well, took you long enough._ The Sacred Beast and Link communicated via being in the same body, therefore words weren't needed. _Have you got the stone?_

_Can it, Beast. _Link thought, and nodded at the goop. "Any idea what this is?" He asked aloud- The Beast and Ros heard him.

"Not a clue," Ros whispered, putting two fingers in it. He smelled it, then gagged. "Smells like a dead body."

The Sacred Beast had been sniffing the material. _Smells like lifesblood. _The Beast held his head in the air for a second, closing his eyes. After a moment, his eyes shot open. Twili _lifesblood, Link. _Link could not believe what he was hearing. _Bet that Illia looks like the only option now. Or Zelda. _The Beast didn't seem to care, and sat upright. He began scratching behind his left ear. _So… Where's the stone? I need to run in a physical form, not some ethereal spirit. _

_I don't have the stone, Midna took it when she left. _The Beast stopped short.

_What. _It was more of a statement than a question.

_It was with Midna. _The Beast growled, walking up to Link, mal intent in his eyes.

_I _will _be free, soon. _The Sacred Beast jerked his head to the side, making Link jerk his, where Ros had started to walk. He was shouting. _Help the kid. You and I will talk later. _The Beast disappeared, and the world stopped being a shade of green. Ros was pointing to something.

"Sir! You've got to see this! Sir!" Ros shouted. His tone was slightly in awe, Link realized. The Beast's enhanced senses helped his- reawakening that jerk had it's benefits. Link jogged next to the Knight and gaped.

In the middle of the cavern, impaled through the bottom by a large stalactite, was the Palace of Twilight. Link froze, unable to take in the site.

"No…" Link whispered. Midna was the Twilight Princess; it was incredibly likely she was in there. Above the Palace lay an ever bigger hole. Link did a double take.

Wait, what had made the hole they entered through?

* * *

"So… What's the… dog, for?" Azzonoth chose his words carefully.

"I have a name, meatsack." The abomination growled. Azzonoth looked at the animal in shock.

"W-What?"

"It's Bane."

"… Is this thing talking to me, or am I going insane?"

"I hear it too." Mrathil confirmed. Xul nodded.

"Gents, meet Bane. He's the genetic abnormality. along with upgrades from myself, that created a species."

"I'm the best at what I do." Bane bragged, picking his head up and wagging his tail faster.

"And that is…." Mrathil left the answer hanging. Bane opened his mouth, revealing rows upon rows of teeth.

"Killing. I have quite the taste for humans, though." Bane was eager. Xul nodded towards the hole that the two people had entered through.

"Lunch is served. Go get them." Bane's spine shot up with joy before the massive creature bounded away.

* * *

Link rushed towards where the stalactite had impaled the Palace. Most Twili were undoubtedly dead, the river of blue blood confirmed that notion. He hoped Midna had survived as he tried to estimate where the rock pierced through.

If he remembered correctly, the tip of the spire would've crushed the throne, and therefore Midna. However, if he knew her as well as he thought, she would not have been in the throne room. They were likely evacuated, but it couldn't hurt to check the bodies and count the total dead for a report. His warmer side bit at his colder side, telling him that this being done to check on a friend. His colder side retorted he had no friends, only acquaintances. If there were visual representations of his warm and cold side, the warm side would cross his arms. _What does that make Midna, then? An acquaintance? _ The colder side would nod. Then, a wolf would enter between them and tell bark, telling them to cross that bridge when they got there.

"This is the Palace of Twilight, home to the Twilight Princess." Link whispered to Ros. Ros' brow furrowed.

"You mean the bastards that invaded Hyrule three years back or so?" No sooner did Ros finish than Link drew his blade and put the flat to the guard's neck.

"Do not call them bastards. They were misguided, but now have a caring ruler who takes care of them!" Link's voice was a whisper. "Part of me rests with those people, Druthmar. Have you ever spent months getting to know one? Have you ever had one wrap their arms around you and tell you that they'd miss you, and you'd make a promise to visit, but not keep it?" Link's eyes shone with rage. "As a people, they have been broken, beaten, cast away, led by a false king who would throw their lives away, and tortured for the greed of their ancestors," Link took the blade away and pointed to the wreckage. "They didn't need that, Druthmar! Nobody ever deserves _that!_ Especially not the Twili, who burn in the sun! Ros Druthmar, you are the first Knight of the new Hyrule. You're going to tell me that a species who's skin opens in light deserves this? Now do you see why I've accepted these people as a part of me? They need someone to save them from a mistake that doomed an entire species!" Link's voice had gotten smaller as he sheathed the blade. "Now, let's go see if there are any survivors."

* * *

Bane picked his head up as the two climbed started to ascend to the Palace, feet reverberating in the room. It was pierced through the middle, the steps were apparently still fine. One part of the palace was broken off in an odd angle, Bane could smell the fear from there, and guessed it was around ninety degrees different from some other parts based on the taste of the fear. Bane absentmindedly wondered what was in it as he stalked his prey through the shadows, overly excited at the chance to feast on human flesh; perhaps even Twili flesh if he got lucky.

The Twili were a rare meal, and when they were, they were always delicious. Bane drooled thinking about his next meal.

* * *

Link and Ros checked the many different rooms of the Palace. Wherever they looked, there was a body in blue blood, which dripped towards the stalactite like tribute. It seemed the Palace was on a slight angle, as if the monstrous spear of rock was the central focal point of the ruins. Wherever they checked, only bodies and blood and darkness, no Midna and no relief and no reunion. Not a room went by without a dead Twili. Cursing himself, Link opened a door-

To find it continued upwards. Bewildered, he called up.

"Hello? Anyone?" He waited for a response.

He received two answers.

* * *

That unmistakable voice had carried to Midna. Her eyes shot open, wondering how long she'd been asleep, when Link's voice called to her again. She realized she had fallen asleep healing her broken bones, the parchment disintegrated yet the wood remained, a surefire sign she had casted the spell, when she answered down in a tone that came out litter more than a whisper.

"Link?"

* * *

Link's senses went ballistic when he heard the Twili's voice.

"Midna! Where ar-" He saw the Twili stand up from somewhere before the abomination charged him. It landed on his side, and physically rolled him over with hands that felt like Chu Jelly, yet were stronger than steel. Where was Ros when Link needed him? His sword had been disarmed and was a ways away, and his shield was on his back- neither of which he could reach. He had to look the beast in the face- but was horrified to see it didn't have any, only a maw of glistening teeth. It opened the enormous jaws it possessed, before closing them down on Link's chest, biting his sides. It felt like a million knives entered the wounds, dancing in his flesh and commanding his blood to come enjoy the light outside of his body. Amidst it, he felt a slight undertone of a burn. It was shaking it's incredible mouth, trying to tear off chunks of him, when a blade pierced it through the top of the mouth.

Ros stood there, trying to get the blade out, when the thing stopped it's attack and performed an act straight out of the Knight's more recent nightmares.

It slowly stood up, forcing Ros to take his hand off the blade, until it reached bipedal status- the thing's head was brushing the ceiling. The bones in the monster's lower legs adjusted accordingly, as did the bones in the arms and chest. The thing pulled Ros' sword out of his maw, and turned to the Knight, who soiled his drawers.

"You shouldn't have done that," It growled. Link's bites flared with pain as he tried to reach his sword. His left hand barely gripped it when the monster turned around. "In fact, you can watch." Link's head snapped straight as the beast when behind Ros, who was paralyzed in fear.

"**You there.**" A chorus of voices responded. It was time for Link to soil his drawers. The beast dropped the blade and looked around.

"Who's there?" The beast responded, turning around. It sniffed the area, detecting obviously nothing.

It didn't see the horror behind it, for it was undead.

The horror was ethereal, bending over at a degree that a living creature's spine would've snapped, to look at the monster. It was a ghostly blue, and flakes of frost silently fell off of it. Link could see plainly through it, but saw more of it than the average human would've. It was a mass of opened flesh, allowing blood, which happened to be the frost, flow from it without warning. On the creature's torso was burned a number and a sigil, where the beast's own ribcage was used in the sigil, Link felt. The creature's real atrocity was it's head- Link could count only two pairs of eyes, but millions of essences behind them. Link could see the thing's mouth, a smoking hole with tentacles flailing like an enraged baby. Link could see the thing's head, which was the result of millions of different, unique head shapes combining into one. It had no hair, only a mass of foot-long claws.

"**You will repay what you and your master did, Bane.**" The spirit roared. The creature which was identifiable now as Bane, turned around.

"We did what was best!"

"**You did what was violent and unnecessary, instead of shattering it.**"

"What's a random spirit to tell to me!" Bane roared, turning back to Ros. "I'll show you who's boss here!" Bane picked up the blade, and Ros fidgeted. Link cried out in pain again, cringing to try to reach his pack. Bane was forcefully turned around. The spirit's eyes were as black as the void.

"**Random spirit?**" The horror whispered. **"RANDOM SPIRIT?!" **The Palace began to shake. "**I am Cain, Eternal Avatar of The Left Behind, and you will leave this place." **At the mention of the name 'Cain', Bane twitched, making Link's bites enflame once more. He finally had grasped the pack, salvation was closing in.

Bane growled, dropping the sword, before slowly lowering himself back onto all fours. He sprinted out of the Palace. Cain turned to Ros, and nodded. Ros unfroze, landing on his hands and knees. He laid his eyes upon Link and blinked, flinging the sword and pack into reaching distance.

"**The deed is done, Twilight Princess,**" Link registered that Cain was calling Midna out. None other than the Twilight Princess herself had jumped down the three feet from wherever she was hiding to the ground. Ros was still trying to get a hold of himself when Link's eyes screamed at him that for some reason, Midna was a pale white. "**The Hero also has his equipment, no extra charge.**" Link fumbled in his pack and took out a rectangular glass bottle. Inside, held a small orb of light with wings that was resting on the bottom. At the slow turning of the cap, the fairy woke up. Link heard it's gasp as the small creature viewed the wounds Bane had inflicted. Midna curtsied.

"Thank you, Eternal Guardian. I release you," Midna proclaimed. Cain nodded before fading away. Midna turned to Link and a look of shock and worry crossed her face. "Are you alright?" The fairy was crisscrossing his wounds, making a sharp bit of pain appear and disappear with each spark of magic treated to his wounds. The magic, when touching the bleeding wounds, added flesh over them.

"Well, just got bitten by some freaky cavern dwelling thing," Link grunted through closed teeth. "But besides that, can you make sure my friend over the-GAH!" The pain had sharply increased as the fairy began to finish. It was clearly identifiable as a she from the tone, which kept saying 'sorry'. Midna nodded and glanced at the Knight, who's right arm was leaning on the enormous stalactite.

"What foul trickery did that thing use on me?" Ros whispered, looking at Link. It was as if Midna was invisible, and she was taken aback. Link was searching his pack for something else at the request of the fairy, who waited patiently. She would recognize that red gloop anywhere, from the amount of times she had to make Link drink it or apply it to his wounds when he couldn't. After he pulled the Red Potion's cap off, the sadness hit her hard.

Everyone in her entire castle was dead, save for her and the two humans. All her advisors (she thought it strange she was mourning them, for she hated most of her advisors.), Garan, her maids, which were like little sisters to her, even the bickering townsfolk- she missed them all. She bit her top lip and decided she wouldn't let Link see sadness, not after three years of keeping calm. She swiveled her head to see that the fairy was just about done with his wounds, and that Link had rolled out his bandages. Ros was murmuring to himself.

"You got yourself hurt again, stupid wolf," Midna said, and Ros' head went up in a flash, as if he was first noticing her. "What'll I ever do with you?" She whispered, and Ros backed away.

"Monster!" He called, picking up his sword. Link and Midna's eyes cracked open to their limits as Ros charged Midna. "Die, foul beast!" Midna had ducked around the first few strikes before she reached an arm out and tapped the center of the Knight's forehead, three white waves shooting down him one after the other. Ros passed out on the floor. Midna looked disgusted.

"Glad people are showing appreciation…" Midna murmured.

"Mid?" Link asked. It had been a long time since she heard him call her that. "I thought you were blue last time I saw you?" Link asked through clenched teeth. He was bandaged, his sides appearing to have softened with the amount of bandages needed to support the wobbly new flesh. Midna smiled and offered her hand, which he took. It took the Hero nearly a minute, but he got up.

"Do you mind if I warp us three out of here, first? It leaves a sour taste in my mouth." Midna whispered. Link grunted, holding one of his sides.

"Yeah, go right ahead. Just let me-" As he adjusted his bandages, he, Midna, and the collapsed body of Ros warped out of the Palace of Twilight, escaping in black squares via a nearby window.

* * *

Next update will probably be slowed because of my schedule.


	4. Chapter 2: A Warning

Sorry it's so short, the next one will be longer, I promise. My mind is rigged to explode with ideas. This thing won't be finished anytime soon, so let's get started.

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Warning**

* * *

Bane ran as fast as he possibly could back to where Mrathil, Azzonoth, and Xul were waiting. The trio took the positions of statues, merely waiting for the abomination to come back. After Bane entered the Grounds, Xul nodded.

"He's here, alright. Shall we?" The Antithesis beckoned to the door. Mrathil nodded, and jumped off the stone slab followed shortly by Azzonoth. The duo had to duck to get inside, when they realized Xul wasn't behind them. Instead, Mrathil saw the fallen Lux standing in the direct center of a huge room filled with sand, on top of a skeleton. Mrathil climbed on top of the skeleton's horn, and Azzonoth leaped up the skeleton's back. They had to wait less than five minutes when the beast beat the door in, now bipedal, holding a Stalfos' skull. Bane crushed it with a humanlike hand before bowing in front of Xul.

"I failed, Master." Bane whispered, his bones starting to assume the form of a quadruped once more. Xul merely growled, and the red glow in the skeleton's eyes flickered.

"How so?" Xul asked, sitting down on the skeleton's head. "How did the task of killing three simple people excel your field?" Bane's maw hit the floor.

"I tried to charm the knight, whom of which I lost control over after the Twili pacified him. He almost stabbed her, though-" Bane started before Xul's voice rose.

"The Twili bitch lives?" Xul was not pleased. "You know how important the deaths of all of them, _especially _her, are to the plan, Bane. I hope you have some good news?" Xul growled the last sentence. Bane nodded.

"The human, the one that killed the Pretender- I have left my mark." Bane seemed proud of this, picking his maw up and showcasing the glittering fang, which indicated where the poison had come from. Xul nodded.

"So there is a small light in this tunnel of darkness." Xul whispered.

* * *

The orange and black smoke had seeped into Link's bloodstream, looking to select a particular blood cell, like one would search for a prime cut of meat in a meat market. This particular cell had been floating lazily in a routine fashion around the bloodstream. The smoke bit into the cell, which convulsed and flailed like a dying animal after being grabbed by a hunter. The smoke opened the membrane of the cell and dove inside, forcibly grabbing control. It's once brilliant red was now a strange black with orange cracks. The cell looked around desperately for something to find in, and found a crack in the skin to hide in.

It would watch. It would wait. It would corrupt. It knew it's instructions. And soon, it would spread it's instructions to everyone.

* * *

Neither Xul nor Davos had seen the figure posing as part of the wall. After Xul had ejected himself out, part of the wall broke into a humanoid shape, and landed on the ground fist and knee first. The stone rose slowly, examining the scene, before groping at the stone's own face. The creature took a hold of the sides of the face and ripped it off, shedding the Stone Mask and the armor that came with it. The figure was of an inexplicable transparent metal, which adjusted once more to the surroundings as it checked the bodies.

It could not salvage anything whatsoever of the one called Thundros' face. However, the High Warden's face only need a little 'pick me up' before it would be ready to go. The figure revealed a long knife, nearing short-sword length. It laid two fingers on the High Warden's helmet, which the creature hadn't taken off. Those fingers began to glow white, and underneath them, the helmet and the face snapped back together again, bones and metal visibly readjusting themselves to the proper positions. Then it took the knife and put it to the top of the helmet's face, which was form-fitted to the High Warden.

It began cutting.

* * *

Midna had pointed the warp at Castle Town, and to her annoyance, the threesome had rematerialized in a nearby cave mouth. The Twilight Princess groaned to see that the afternoon was invaded by rain the size of small beads. Thunder roared over Castle Town, lightning flashing across the sky in brilliant arcs of power that could easily turn the capital to ash. Link had taken a second to stabilize himself, stumbling for a moment before catching his footing. Ros still lay on the ground, groggy but waking up.

Link was trying to get it all together in his head, Midna saw. "What happened to the Castle Town warp?" He asked, gesturing to wear it was. Midna let out a long sigh.

"I had worked on a fail-safe of sorts while living home in the Twilight Realm," Midna explained, not letting the sight of the lightning leave her eyes. "Things like weather situations were supposed to transport us to the nearest dry spot. Apparently, Castle Town is soaked or I didn't do a good job," Midna grumbled as she took a seat on a rock. Link nodded, taking it all in. He opened his mouth before Midna cut him off. "I burnt," She answered darkly. "I don't know how or why but I burnt almost as bad as I did when Zant roasted me." Her eyes had drifted down to her now pale lower chest, which was adorned by the scar of where her body had broken open from the light. Link was mortally terrified that day, and wanted to never feel that manner of pain again. Midna had bled all over his fur, and she had… Neither of them wanted to relive that day, ever again.

"I'm sorry." Link replied, plopping on a stone. His sides shot up in protest.

"Is the flesh stable yet?" Midna asked. Link took off a slab of bandage, allowing the slight sting to pass, and poked. His finger nearly ripped the flesh open again, and Link shook his head.

"Not in the slightest. I'll give it a day before I go see a medic." Link's voice hadn't shone the slightest hint of him missing her in any way. Midna mentally slapped herself for thinking that Link missed her in… _That _way. Could it even happen? Midna was unsure.

"Did you ever take care of yourself while I was gone?" Midna asked cockily. Link chuckled.

"I had a different princess, one that I didn't consider my closest friend, watching out for me," Link shot back, crossing his left leg over his right. Midna saw his lips tighten, then unclench again as he put his foot back down. She smiled absentmindedly at the thought of them being close, as if they had grown up together. It's not that she didn't want the circumstances to be different, she just rather that the reunion could be under better circumstances. She wondered what Link thought of her now, three years after the adventure they had shared. Her mind hurt at the thought, as her thoughts stood defiant against her persona, the two conducting a battle in her head. Link stood up again. "I should go start a fire, it'll get cold here, fast." Midna got up and shook her head, which made Link plop right back down.

"You'll not be leaving until those wounds are healed. Here," Midna commanded, a ball of intensified light growing from the size of a pinprick to that of Link's palm. When Link closed his eyes he could still see the burning light, which was now thrown down in the center of the triangular cave mouth. Ros was in the back, just about waking up. "It's a Twili Fire. Just put your hands around it if you need warmth." Link gave her a smile that she had only seen when she had broken the barrier at Hyrule castle- one that made her insides turn to jelly, but not in a bad way; for it also gave her a powerful armor that would fend off all of the grief she had.

Yes, that day, her thoughts had won the battle.

Ros had sat up now, and Link turned to the Knight. The waves of white had disappeared from his form, and without a word, he looked between the two of them for half a minute before he spoke up.

"You two… are insane," He murmured, getting up. He pointed at the Twili Fire. "What's that?" He sounded like a child asking what a sword or a nation was.

"A conjured flame. Sit a spell…" Midna trailed off.

"Sir Ros Druthmar," Ros replied, bowing slightly. "And I apologize for my earlier actions, they were not my own." Link arched an eyebrow.

"How so?" Link asked.

"The beast had me under some manner of trance. My movements were not my own." Ros replied, before looking outside to the rain. Lightning arced in the air, making the new Hyrule Castle look sickly in the flashes.

"Apology accepted." Midna nodded, smiling slightly. Ros went to the mouth of the cave, one eye on the outside at all times.

"Thank you, Twilight Princess." Ros tilted his head just far enough so that plops of rain landed on him. Link look bewildered and mouthed to Midna _How did he know?_ Midna's brow furrowed slightly for a moment.

Midna could not have anticipated what her pacification had done.

* * *

Ros had known. What the Twilight Princess hadn't seen was that she did not just take his mind and still it, but she could not control the flow of her thoughts. He experienced, no, _lived _the story of the Hero through Midna's eyes. How she was as an imp, the slight, but still prominent, feeling of home whenever Midna had laid her hand on his face, or he had held her. He had seen it all. He had known, probably too much, by his guess.

Slightly bemused, he thought he may've gathered enough information about the Twilight Princess then the Hero of Twilight ever had. Sadly, though, he also figured out that it would crush one if a parting should occur again.

Little did Ros know it, he had seen something that Midna never wanted shown. He had to do something, Ros felt it in his gut. The words of his ancestors rang clear in his head.

_Protect them._ Ros didn't know who his ancestors were, however they gave him a voice he needed. His ancestors told him that a darkness was coming, and he'd need to be the shield they could never become. He was to succeed where they had ultimately failed.

_Why? _He thought. _Why does it have to be me?_ But the ghosts of the past were silent. Everything was now silent, like a still painting that refused to flow in the slightest way.

Ros involuntarily lifted his hands towards his face. Something was coming, and something that would not settle for anything less than making them mincemeat. He knew it was his duty to protect, and protect he would.

He would protect like he couldn't when he was a child. He couldn't protect his… He forced the thoughts out of his head. Now was not the time to recollect. Now was the time to be on his guard.

* * *

Queen Malia Wstroth was seated upon her throne of glass when the High Warden came bursting into the throne room.

The throne room was set up like a sheer cliff, only other Lux being able to rise for the queen. The three sets of doors were orange, with black wooden doorknobs. The High Warden flew straight up, landing in front of the queen with a _fwhoom. _He was on one knee in front of the queen, who commanded him to rise in a decaying tone. The queen's color was that of a dark blue, her skin covering her bones like a thin shirt. Queen Malia was not old or comely at all, her red-straw like hair waved down to her shoulder blades, and her mouth and nose were perfectly spaced. She wore a circlet of platinum inset with gold, the platinum outmatched by her silvery eyes that glowed like the sun above them. Her wings, when folded, covered her shoulders and upper arms like armor, metallic plates that she could wear in battle. The queen was never someone who sat there and did nothing, and her outstretched wings were tantalizing to look at, feathers of a crimson-white, surrounded by delicate halos. The High Warden and the Queen exchanged a stretch of wings, customary to anything nigh of direct family for the Lux people. She wore expensive cloth and ornaments, which weaved around her body in a delicate fashion.

"What brings you here?" The Queen's voice started at a louder-than-normal tone, and ended in a whisper. Nobody knew why, but it was the way she talked. Only her closest friend, who happened to be her doctor, knew why. She would never tell anyone, even if she could.

"Your highness," The High Warden sounded troubled as he reached towards his face. "You need to listen to us when we talk to you." While the High Warden said that sentence, he had _taken off his face_. In front of the Queen stood a tall figure in moving, invisible armor and a face with no features, save for two golden eyes. She could tell it was armor from the sound, a _chrk-chrk _underneath the _vwhoom _it emanated whenever the creature moved.

"A Face Master," The Queen whispered with disgust. "I have never needed your council, nor shall I ever. Be on your way before I force you out, and take Davos' face from you." She growled upon her mentioning of the High Warden. The Face Master seemingly held up a hand.

"I'm merely here to issue a warning. I'm thankful that I got here before _that _did, though." The Face Master replied, sounding violent instead of the usual wise.

"What! Tell me!" The Queen demanded like an impudent child. The Face Master turned away, leaving her to gaze at the walls through its armor. It turned slightly to her, allowing her to glimpse part of its face.

"Xul. The Antithesis that… you know…I'm sorry about that." The Face Master was actually being _sympathetic_, an emotion Queen Malia had never seen them express, towards her plight. Malia allowed a small smile to surface, followed by a nod.

"Thank you." Her voice was small, and it was evident that she had no idea to respond. But the Face Master did.

"Escaped." The Face Master finished, seemingly unfazed by her thanks. Her face dropped, horror sprayed across it like graffiti.

"What?!" Queen Malia shrieked. She got off of her throne and sped to the Face Master. "How does nobody know about this?!"

"Look outside," The Face Master replied darkly. "While I take you to a safe house." The Face Master turned to the Queen, allowing her to see its featureless face, and the golden eyes drank her in.

"I'm not leaving my people." Malia growled. She felt that the Face Master would've arched an eyebrow, if it had any.

"Then I'll be forced to do this," The Face Master whispered, taking something out of an invisible pouch. He shoved a stone onto her face, which nigh of immediately started petrifying her. She tried to jerk away, but the stones advanced too fast. They came up and claimed her. "I am sorry." The Face Master said.

* * *

The threesome had waited until the early hours of the morning, when the terrible rain had stopped, to leave the cave. Checking to make sure the new flesh was stable enough to move on, Link fell behind on the walk to Castle Town, which took merely five minutes from the cave mouth they had camped within. Midna and Ros were discussing something in hushed tones in front of Link. Curious, he called upon some of his wolf senses and heard only bits and pieces.

"You-" This was Midna.

"…to non-" This was Ros.

"…now i-" Midna.

"Fine." Ros.

"What could my _dear _friend and the First Knight possibly be talking about?" Link wondered aloud, and directed his movements towards the two of them as he walked slowly. "Do I see hearts flying?" He asked in a tone that sounded more like a game show announcer than the Hero of Twilight. They spun around, Ros' faceplate down, but Link didn't need superior senses to know he was glaring. Midna's face flushed orange, which was rare for Twili; their blood was accustomed to a different tone of light, and developed as blue. However, thanks to Zelda storing herself in Midna, and the fact that Midna was now somewhat more tolerant to the sun, her blood had changed from sky blue to a burning orange color. It synergized with the color of hair almost perfectly. Link smiled.

"No!" Midna snapped. Ros rolled his eyes before advancing, and Midna kept the _Are you insane? _Look her on face as he slowly but steadily walked alongside her.

"Someone became uptight back home in the Twilight Realm." Link joked. Midna's looked taken aback.

"I did _not _lose my sense of humor!" Midna growled. "There's no way, and you can ask your four, negative-eight, thirty something goddesses about that!" Link smiled. She had even forgotten the Golden Goddesses.

"Midna, what's on my hand?" Link asked as Ros gazed on while they walked into Castle Town.

"The Triforce. Why?" The Twili asked, her brow furrowing. Apparently, that triggered something in her head and she slapped her face. "I'm an idiot." She whispered as they walked through Castle Town, late bird's heads turning at the sight of Midna. The only one that cared about the passing glances was Ros, who's eyes swiveled in every direction with each glance. It made him look more like an owl or hawk instead of human, cloak shaking with each turn. It made more glances go to him than either of the two. Link walked with a slight limp, just noticeable enough to be found by onlookers. Link chuckled.

"I'm so glad you missed me." He sounded like he was talking to a puppy, Midna realized. His right hand was over his heart and he was giving her the puppy-dog face he had the first time when he said he needed to sleep.

"You're really making that flee though, pal," Midna patted his shoulder. This forced a small laugh out of him instead. The trio found their way to Hyrule Castle, where Midna wolf whistled. "This looks bigger." The Twili admired. Ros turned around, effectively walking backwards.

"Aye. It's bigger and better than any other Hyrule Castle to predate it," Ros answered before turning back around into the metal door. His faceplate clinked off it, which reminded Link of the tears that Midna had shed when he had saw her last. "Is it alright that I can't feel anything in my head?" Ros joked, as the threesome took their time inside. A guard nodded to Link, and in less than five minutes, Zelda had come from seemingly nowhere. She was dressed in her nightly attire, a simple purple gown that was noticeably sizes too big for her. Her brown hair was in a messy bun.

"Midna?!" Zelda's reaction upon seeing the Twili, who was still instantly recognizable despite the change in her skin color, was not that of a cold ruler but that of a friend. The Twilight Princess smiled and nodded.

"What other Twili do you know?" Midna asked, holding up her right arm. "On second thought, don't answer that." Midna countered. Zelda gave a quick glance to Ros, who bowed, and Link, who tried to keep his bandages steady and did not look at Zelda.

"You're hurt." Zelda stated the obvious. Link looked up and noticed the three of them were watching him fix the bandages on his sides. He shook his head.

"Believe me when I say this is much better than the original mark," Link assured. "That reminds me, you still need that scout report." Link stopped when Zelda held up a hand.

"It can wait till morning. I can assume what happened, considering Midna is among us," Zelda yawned. "You three should get to bed. We're going to be explaining for this quite a bit to the court come morning. There are rooms next to mine that are free, come." Zelda beckoned, and while Midna and Link followed, Ros did not.

"My lady, I have night watch." Ros grinned sheepishly. Zelda nodded, then shrugged.

"I'm too tired to deal with this right now. Come and sleep, or go on the wall. If you do the former you won't get anything off your record. If you do the latter, feel free." Zelda walked away. Link took this all in for a moment.

"Midna," He said, the Twilight Princess arcing an eyebrow at him. "This is apparently night time, I thought it was just bad weather. What happened?" Link asked. Midna crossed her arms.

"I'm completely unsure, actually. That's never happened before," Midna whispered the last part, as if she was talking to herself. She noticed Link eyeing her while Ros left for the wall. Midna flushed once she realized why Link was staring. "Zelda said room_s_, as in plural! Not in your perverted dreams!" Midna huffed before ascending the steps to where Zelda had left. Link rolled his eyes at the storming princess.

"First it worked with Illia, then with Midna. Man, I am getting lucky or is it working every time?" Link thought aloud. "Nah, it works every time." He followed Midna to the spare rooms.

* * *

The trio didn't know it was Xul who changed their warp out of amusement. The black squares held in the air for some time, allowing the Antithesis to conjure a rainstorm in Hyrule. He hadn't a reason to do this, only because he could. Azzonoth and Mrathil watched him.

"Exactly what are we waiting for?" Azzonoth asked. Mrathil glared at him, but Xul held up a hand.

"It's quite fine. You see, I figured we'd head out when they leave," Xul explained. "After they get the feeling that they're nice and comfortable and suddenly tired, we can do place it." Mrathil had to give him that, Xul was a genius. Azzonoth was confused.

"Then shouldn't we be heading out now?" The boy asked. Xul halted.

"Why not? We have a ways to go. Come, let us be on our way," Xul beckoned, and flew upwards. The shockwave forced Mrathil and Azzonoth down, rolling. There was a murmur of pain between them as Xul waited. "Tick tock, time waits for nobody," Xul encouraged, gesturing to the black squares that was the party. "Not even _them_." The trio would progress through during the day, and reach Hyrule by nightfall at this rate, Mrathil determined.

* * *

When the trio of evil beings left, Stallord's eyes sparked green. Finally, they had gone. Finally, Stallord could rejuvenate himself. The energies of life were more than enough to jump-start his system. Hyrule needed him more than ever, now. In fact, he could be renowned even as a Hero- by killing the evil three and taking the Lord of the Hallowed's head, he could make sure the sun wouldn't go out ever again. Stallord willed five Stalfos to him, who snaked through the sand as bones and armor. They picked up, inquiring what their lord wanted.

"Bring me Danuvius. I need to get into my compressed form." Stallord commanded, picking his head up. The other Stalfos nodded, and rushed away. Stallord sensed their internal screams of joy that he would soon crush. He was leaving, as was Danuvius. They were going to go across the world, and find the others.

They needed to win the war that had yet to begin. A long sleep gave Stallord time to think on many a thing.

He knew what he had to do.

* * *

And today's motto is: Sorry for the short update! Enjoy skeletal beings!

We are _finally _done with the exposition, folks. When I next update, it'll be the inciting moment! Then the story _really _starts to pick up! The next update should also be longer, perhaps twice as long, or perhaps even more than that, as this chapter.

Oh, and fans of other TP pairings… Hold on to your brains.


	5. Chapter 3: Sanctuary is Lost

The longest update yet! Hoorah! And I feel incredibly bad for making you guys wait this long, for at this time I'm reading four books, writing two papers, making a Zelda MTG block, writing this, and moving. But back to the script: At last! The inciting moment! This is my favorite part of these past few chapters. I feel inclined to let you know that the song I listened to while writing this was _Sanctuary is Lost _by Two Steps from Hell, which is where I got the name and the song you should listen to while reading this. Trust me, if you didn't like the other chapters, this should change your mind. Reviews for this chapter in particular are appreciated.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Sanctuary is Lost**

* * *

Dawn teased over the horizon of Hyrule. Most of the bustling capital's populace had begun to stir, preparing for the day of work ahead of them. The general excitement of the generation was over. Now, it was time to work.

Even fortune tellers could not predict what would become of the shining country of Hyrule on this fateful day.

A sixteen-foot tall giant stood, levitating, high above the fountain in central Castle Town. Xul watched as the dampened sun rose over the mountainous natural borders of Hyrule. Instead of the sky being it's cheery dawn colors, it was a timid grey. He stood there, simply waiting, until the sun struck eight o'clock.

He was also surprised that nobody noticed him, but then accredited it to Hylian ignorance. They wouldn't know if a dragon was sitting on top of them, let alone a creature such as he. In fact, Xul had read upon the villain of Hyrule- Ganondorf. If they could not be bothered, or were actually incapable of decimating him, they were lazy. Each country had at least three wizards, where were H yrule's? It made no sense to Xul. He could snap the puny Gerudo over his knee if he truly desired.

However, Xul knew of _one _Hylian that did kill Ganondorf. He had succeeded where literally all of his ancestors had failed. He had killed the Gerudo, and proven that he was, ultimately, the strongest of his bloodline yet. Which is why (this wasn't in the history books, but Xul knew about it) the Twili reverted back to her normal form. She was stronger than most others of the Twili royalty, which were supposed to be eradicated with the bringing of the Palace into the Light Realm, and not only because she had the Fused Shadow. It was pestering to know that, despite his best efforts for the time being, she survived. No, more than pestering, _infuriating. _

The Antithesis had to tell himself to keep calm and wait on. The time would come soon enough.

* * *

Link got up with a moan and a groan that morning. The bed room he was sleeping in was an L shape, and his bed lay in the lower quadrant of that L. The entire room was painted red, with red carpets and even a red blanket. A dark wooden table lay directly across from the bed, with two out candles. The room didn't hold any other furnishings, which was odd, especially for a castle room. A loud sound penetrated the room, and Link's hand immediately reached for his sword.

He traced the noise in his head thanks to the Sacred Beast, and it sounded like snoring.

The Sacred Beast had been nagging him about Midna and the stone for the entire night. Admittedly, he had wanted more time to talk with his friend, but he had done the 'Escape' maneuver and she had went on a miniature tirade and stormed up to the empty rooms. He had followed her to see her open a door, which he knocked on. Last night, she had refused to talk. He was hoping today she would've calmed down. Knowing Midna, she would either be still mad at his perverted joke (which was his boredom stare, and it _did _work) or would give him the silent treatment. He got off his bed slowly, and checked on his wounds. He was glad to see that the flesh was firm, but horrified to see the veins around the bite had turned black and orange.

"The hell?" Link whispered. The flesh itself was a sickly grey color. It was only an incredibly small portion, but still it shook the Hero to his core. He hadn't recalled seeing a poison in the alchemy book that Midna had carried that had left such a mark. Dismissing it, he slid on his chain shirt and tunic, not forgetting about his signature hat.

Link knew some major objectives of his day, the first being that he was to try to get Midna to talk to him. Then, he had to persuade her to warp him to Lake Hylia, and for her to come. He missed Epona his chestnut mare with unusual white hair.

The Hero of Twilight decided that, as he exited the room, shutting the door behind him with a loud _fhmhp, _that he'd bring his Twilight Princess breakfast. _Wait, _my _Twilight Princess? When the hell did that occur? If I'm slipping already, today's bound to be full of fun. _

He had no idea how truthful he would be.

He pondered for a moment about the Twili's taste in food. If he remembered correctly (he'd never hear the end of it if he didn't), his companion was fascinated with eggs and bacon, two things that did not exist in the Twilight Realm. Link scorned the Goddesses on the subject of the Twili. They had paid far too much and been in exile far too long for their ancestors, not even their own, mistakes.

The Goddesses were cruel, cruel women. And the Twili had paid for it in bloodshed that they didn't need. Bloodshed that was completely unnecessary, bloodshed that poor Midna had to _watch _unfold in front of her. He could point out many reasons the Twili deserved to be defended. He had made that sole promise to himself and he had stepped on it, in their time of need. He felt horrible about not going back for his friend. It gave him a queasy feeling in his stomach that made him want to throw up when he thought about it.

His feet and his empty stomach had brought him from the rooms he and Midna slept in to the kitchens, where three chefs, two males and a female, worked feverishly. One male was tall and slightly skinnier than average, his peachy skin was marked by multiple burns. He had shaggy black hair blocking his eyes. He was apparently spicing a soup dish that smelled like pumpkins and cheese. The female in the room wore a green dress that ended in a skirt on her knees, with flowery patterns running the length of it. She was a bright blonde, and her back was turned to him. The third cook he recognized.

"Shad?" Link asked. The Hylian turned to him, and laughed.

"Link! What brings you here?" Shad asked, patting Link's shoulder. He was at least three inches taller than when Link had last visited him. His glasses were now gold-rimmed, and he wore a badge through the coat of his cooking robe. The badge was a triangle shape, gold with blue running through it. On said triangle was written one word, which was "WISDOM". "WISDOM" was written in some sort of odd blue ink, with runes written around it. Link recognized this as a badge of a high-ranking official, and the trait that represented him best. Shad's sharp features were inviting.

"I'm here for breakfast, actually. You see, an old friend of mine is up in her roo-" Link began, but Shad managed to cut him off.

"What'll it be for you and your lady?" Shad asked, gesturing to what he was making. Above the pot lay slices of browned bread and cheese. In the pot which Shad was using, he was mashing eggs of some odd kind. A spicy scent entered his nose and had its way with the nose hairs Link possessed. Over the fire, on a sheet of steel, pieces of sweetmeats were roasting. Link's eyes lit up- since the Sacred Beast had awakened again, he practically drooled for the meat. But first, he had to correct Shad on his mistake that would've cost him his life, if Midna had been here.

"We're not together, Shad. She's a friend. And I'll take a little bit of everything." Link opened his rupee pouch to pay Shad when the scholar put up a hand.

"You saved Hyrule, _and _a different realm. The least I can do is cook breakfast for you and your friend." Shad turned back around, sliding a stone platter from a stack and preparing it. Link still managed to slip the red rupee where Shad would easily find it. For the life of him, he couldn't take things like that. Link's pride would be demolished if he simply took and took and never gave. No, he couldn't just take from his friend, so he took and gave a little more than the cost (which happened to be a yellow and a blue rupee) for breakfast. The smoke of three fires going on was a little too much for Link's lungs. After a total of five minutes, Shad handed the stone tray to Link. On it lay two bowls of scrambled eggs, two slices of toast, six strips of bacon, and four pieces of other sweetmeats, like sausage. Link smiled as he took it, eyes darting to the rupee. After Shad had opened the door for Link, and halfway down the hall, Link had heard Shad exclaim about the rupee.

Ascending a flight of twenty-two stairs was difficult with the tray. Several times he almost fell, losing the entire breakfast. When he made it to the top, it felt an accomplishment, even though the waiters and waitresses did this nearly every day, bringing breakfast in bed to the denizens of Hyrule Castle, the princess and her advisors included. Link made a mental reminder to thank the waiters for all their hard work.

He made way to the room he was sure Midna was in and knocked. He heard a yawn that was nearly the same exact yawn he had first heard when he met the Twilight Princess, back when he was first a wolf.

"Midna," Link cooed. "I've got some breakfast, your favorites." He drew out the word favorites for a second longer than he usually would've. He heard a small laugh.

"Oh Link, don't you remember?" Midna's tone was as if she was asking a child to remember something. "When I was back as an imp, I slept in the nude quite often. So now, I'm continuing my trend." Link's eyes widened.

"Message received," Link answered, blinking away a mental image of a nude Midna. Her garments left little to the imagination for Link, after all. "I'll just put this tray down…" Link was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and revealing Midna, clad in the same Twilit garments. The scar was deep and long, running from the tip of her navel to just below her breasts. It was also available for view behind her, running the same length. It was a miracle that she had not died that day.

"Did you seriously fall for that trick?" Midna rolled her eyes. Link smiled, picking up the tray. Her amber eyes lit up at the sight of Light World food. "Well then, come on in." Her tone was anything but cold. Her room also looked exactly like Link's, except hers was a deep shade of green. There were no tables, so Midna simply sat cross-legged on the floor. Link laid the tray down carefully between them as he sat down, and then the Sacred Beast pervaded his vision.

"Ask." The Sacred Beast was not being friendly. He was commanding Link, who forced him away.

_This is the first time I've gotten to spend with Midna in three years; leave me alone, dog. _He shot the thought at the Beast, who growled. The Beast knew, however, that she was the one connection he could have to finally be free again. Link didn't make it hidden that he was staring at the Sacred Beast's side, which was a sick grayish color, with orange and black tinted veins surrounding it.

"We didn't exactly have time to sit back and chat in the Palace." Midna bit her lower lip at the mention of the Palace of Twilight, and Link could already feel something welling inside of her. Link nodded.

"And I don't think yesterday counts." Link announced, handing her a bowl of eggs. She accepted it happily.

"What's been going on these past years?" Midna was being cautious, and Link smiled in the specific way that made her heart light, though he didn't know that.

"I've been training the elite guard and rebuilding the castle," Link was proud. "I didn't _paint _these walls, whoever did had a horrible sense of color coordination (at this, Midna let out a small laugh), but I did help build them."

"How's Zelda? The only time I saw her was last night, and even then, she was quite the cranky princess." Midna responded.

"She's been good, or so I've been told. I swear, if anyone on this planet is unreadable, it is that woman," Link said this with a piece of bacon in his hand, which wagged with each word. After he had finished crunching, Link added "And today's your big day." This time, he made sure a piece of toast was wagging. Midna raised an eyebrow.

"My big day?" Her voice was anything but unbelieving.

"Today is your official tour of the new Hyrule Castle and Castle Town!" Link announced. "I figured since I never got to show you around the old one thanks to Ganonpork, I could show you the new one." Link sensed the emotion, he was unsure whether it was sadness or hatred at the mention of Ganon, simmered. Midna put her head in her hands, chewing on a piece of sausage. After she finished, she looked deep in thought. "So, you never told me about the Twilight Realm." Link stated. Midna nodded, and he could feel the sorrow building up inside again. He mentally slapped himself for asking about such a thing to his best friend, and was on the way to literally slapping himself, when Midna interrupted.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, staring into his eyes. It seemed that the other (only slightly for Link, however) softened while they held each other's gaze. The Sacred Beast replied instead.

"Are there more than just the one set floating islands where the Twili live? Or all the Twili all on the ground, looking up to the Palace?" Link glared at the Beast, which grinned wildly. Link wished a great amount of pain on the Beast for doing what the monster had just accomplished. Midna followed his gaze, and blinked. She snarled at the Beast, which blinked in surprise. "You can see him too?" Link asked. Midna nodded, before turning and smiling at Link.

"You taught me quite a few things, believe it or not. But back to the Beast's question," Midna glared at the wolf. "There are three main hovering islands where the Twili live. The wilderness below is far too dangerous for any Twili to step in, which is why we were _gifted_," Link couldn't tell if she strained this word from sadness or from anger at the Goddesses. "With those Islands, which protected us from the horrible and gruesome deaths that awaited us below. The Palace of Twilight was the government on one Island, there were other jobs on another Island, and the biggest one was the homes. They were incredibly crowded, it was a marvel anyone was able to walk, but we survived. The removal of the Palace of Twilight most likely means the realm I am no longer fit to be called the ruler of will likely descend into anarchy." Midna's face dropped. Link leaned over, and put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Midna," Link whispered. The Twili looked at him, befuddled. "It never was your fault. Did you bring the Palace here?" Midna shook her head, orange hair shaking like a waterfall. "Whoever's fault it is, whoever did that to y- I mean, the Twili," Midna cocked her head with a small smile at his correction. "You'll pay that favor back, Mid, I'm sure of it. I intend to help you when you do, though," Link looked down. "I have a few words to say to the bastard that tried that stunt."

"You talk too much," Midna retorted. "But I thank you greatly for the gesture of kindness, Link. When you come with me, would you mind if we went alone…?" She ended in a playful tone. Link shrugged.

"It'd be easier, and better, nobody to hold us down," Link replied. "Just like the good ole' days."

"Link?"

"Yes?" Link wondered what she was about to ask.

"Ready yet?" She teased, making her hand-hair point to the door. "I'm going to go on that tour, and you are coming with me whether you like it or not, Wolfy," Link raised a quizzical eyebrow to this remark, and was shocked to see that Midna had pulled off his hat. "You're not getting it back until you take me on that tour." She stood up and held made her hand-hair put it into a pocket behind her. To Link, it looked like she was storing the hat inside her body. Link got up, and led her out of the room, to where the steps were placed. All the while, he was describing what it took to make all of this happen (Link, being oblivious as usual, didn't notice Midna slide her hand into his), and when they got to the door, it happened.

Midna and Link looked up simultaneously looked up to the sky, wondering what was wrong with the clouds.

What they saw would forever alter their lives.

* * *

When the sun struck eight, Xul stretched. Finally, now was the time. He cuffed his hands over his mouth and began to shout.

"Citizens of Castle Town and Hyrule Castle," Xul's voice boomed, commanding all to listen. People looked at the sky and screamed.

* * *

The first screams of the early morning woke Zelda in her large room. She did not waste any time, when she heard the screaming, she ran towards the source.

* * *

When Ros saw the being standing in the sky, he bolted from the market with incredible speed, considering he wore a traditional elite guard uniform- Like a normal guard uniform, except scales were added to the armor. He stopped in front of the castle doors, where Link and Midna were… holding hands? Midna noticed Ros first, and when he picked up his faceplate and mouthed _So it worked?, _the Twilight Princess nodded. She began to draw away, and took long enough that Link looked at her in worry, and his eyebrows raised once he realized what they had been doing, but the great Hero of Twilight said nothing to his princess.

Ros looked around frantically for- aha! There they were, sentinels on the wall, great shining ballistae. Each of them had been equipped with crossbow bolts so long they could easily impale three men. Ros shouted to Link, and pointed to the ballistae while the monster kept talking.

* * *

"This isn't exactly a hostile takeover," Xul explained, deflecting the arrows the guards shot at him. Did they really learn no lesson? "But it can be if you want it to be. I want a certain thing, a certain thing two certain people seem to have," Xul explained. Looking around, he saw Courage being led by a knight somewhere, and Wisdom was running with that damned Twili to an alley. "Send in the Raethieds." Xul commanded.

Raethieds were between 7 and 9 feet tall, and between 4 and 6 feet wide. They were constructed out of rotting scales, which pointed upward. It's arms were long whips, a staggering 20 feet long when extended fully and could easily rip a man's arm off. The legs were stalwart things, slow yet stalwart, and had no way of being cut off to Xul's knowledge. They left imprints where they walked, tearing through the mud and the stone with ease. The chest was one giant piece of scales, which had a mouth running the height of it. Their heads were perfectly circular and were the size of an infant child. They had three eyes, each seemingly human. The eyes were bloody and oddly colored, but resembled Hylian eyes. The nose contained five hexagonal nostrils, where a nose hair would be on a Hylian, there were blades that would reach out and mince whoever came close. The mouths resemble the nose in this fashion. Tearing people asunder, eating them if they get too close, dicing their flesh, and eating spells and arrows are some of the many abilities they have. They can use a chest 'thumper', and after swallowing spells, spit them back out towards their sender at nearly double the power.

They swarmed the city, destroying the gates with ease. Guards that tried to use their spears were ripped apart, and guards that tried to use bows were grabbed and eaten.

"I repeat, this isn't a hostile takeover. Simply get out of the way, and they won't harm you. Their destination is Hyrule Castle." Xul explained, levitating on his side and examining his nails as if the scene below him was nothing. People scattered, leaving a clear path to the castle. Xul sensed that not Wisdom nor Courage was in the castle, but outside of it. So, to contemplate for that error, he sent one towards Wisdom and two towards courage. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Xul's face was barely missed by a ballista bolt. He saw the metal reflect his deameanor, and was shocked. He turned, looking down to see what had tried-and almost succeeded in-shooting him.

Courage and the Knight were loading another ballista shot.

* * *

Link and Ros heaved again, lifting the two-hundred pound shot onto the glimmering steel ballista. They were both already sweating, all this heavy lifting this early in the morning was good for neither of them, where one was used to a schedule, and one was random, this would be making them sore for days, if not weeks, yet to approach.

That is, If they could _ever hit the talking shadow_. How does someone miss that big a target, with a big weapon such as a ballista? It made no sense that they were missing. Then the shadow seemed to backflip mid-air and spread fifty-foot wings. Link felt his mouth open as the creatures this thing had identified as Raethieds advanced, slow yet sure, determined to win. Those soldiers that stood in the way were brutalized.

Link felt the Triforce of Courage burn. He turned towards the alley near the castle, and saw Midna and a bedhead form that could be identified as Zelda go in the alley. Link called to Ros after the next shot, which deafened Link with a _biwoofum_ sound. Link threw his shield over the defenseless Ros as the ballista bolt broke into what felt like it had been broken into _billions _of pieces against a magic barrier the shadow put up.

"I need to get to Midna and Zelda! They're unarmed!" He yelled. Ros nodded, and pointed to a random soldier, who was inside the walls of the castle, shielding himself.

"_You!_" Ros shouted over the shattering, pointing to the guard. He turned, hearing the elite with only a tad of difficulty. "Help me man the ballistae! Get more guards to operate the other!" Ros commanded. The troop nodded and sprinted off, before Link whispered his thanks, and then said it louder. Ros gave a thumbs up after the shattering had stopped. Link scurried down the steps towards the gate, where guards passed him going up, before coming face to face with a Raethied.

Link had to look up to see the end of the gaping mouth of estranged teeth's end. A strange, many-toothed mouth that resembled Bane's was present, in addition to a similar nose. It's eyes looked Hylian, but were bloody. The arms were like whips, Link could tell as the creature raised it.

_Biwoofum._

A ballista shot impaled the Raethied's head through cleanly, taking up majority of the space. The shot continued with a force, driving the beast into the ground with the shot and splattering it's green-blue-black blood all over the street. The blood painted the street in front of Link, the shot shattering any chance the horror had to attack. Link turned to see Ros giving him a thumbs-up before waving his arm. Link ran towards the alley.

He had not seen the Raethied that followed the women.

* * *

Midna was being pulled at the arm by Zelda, into an alley that was relatively U shaped. Zelda had bed hair, the same purple gown that was too many sizes too big, and that same stifled look. Her Triforce was glowing intensely. It had even burned Midna's arm from the sheer force. Zelda and Midna stopped in the middle of the alley, Zelda panting.

"Midna, listen-"

"Zelda?! What is going on?!" Midna gasped. "What are those things and what is that thing in the sky?!" Midna was being frantic, but Zelda shook her head.

"Listen, Midna, as there is no time to explain this delicate situation. I have had this dream (Here Midna interrupted with an "Oh, Farore. Here we go.) many times. I need you to accept this." Zelda spoke quickly, holding up the back of her right palm. Midna's eyes bulged.

"Zelda! That's your Triforce! There's no way I-"

"That's what they're here for, Midna. The Triforce. These creatures know the original scents of the owners, but can't tell when it's been passed, which is why I need to pass it to you, I trust nobody more. You were my phylactery, after all," Zelda said the last part with a wicked grin that scarily resembled Midna's. "This is my way of saying thank you." Zelda placed her glowing right palm over Midna's and left palm under. This eerily resembled when she had given her life force to Midna, but not her Triforce.

Instead, the light burned golden. A snake of golden flames roared up Zelda's hand and onto Midna's, injecting the tattoo part of the Triforce onto her right palm.

"Midna, Twilight Princess," Zelda whispered with seemingly a thousand voices. "Do you accept the gift we offer?" Zelda's face was soft, but as the snake continued to seemingly spawn endlessly, biting into Midna's hand, the Twilight Princess nodded. A faint smiled zipped across Zelda's mouth. "Thank you." This was the voice of the normal Zelda, and the snake of flame began to glow. The lower right triangle of the Triforce started to ignite, the snake burrowing itself in her flesh. The searing sensation ended almost immediately when the power was fully transferred, and the back of Zelda's right hand was blank. Midna's began to glow.

"Zelda…" Midna whispered.

Then the Raethied decided to show an incredibly ugly face.

It came out of the shadows, whips cracking. Zelda took the first hit, opening up her back. Hot blood poured onto the street as the Raethied struck with the other arm, landing a hip blow. Zelda staggered into Midna's arms. The creature advanced with tired content, wanting to go yet kept going slow. Midna had to look slightly up to see the monster eye to eye. It was completely ignoring her, and focusing on the prize, Zelda.

It reached up with both arms-

But none came down.

Instead, a blade protruded from the Raethied's head. Midna's hopes soared that this was Link, come to save her-

Only it wasn't. The sword was pulled out of the scales and the Raethied wiped at it's eyes, trying to get a better look at the new combatant. Midna realized she was also wiping away tears, and that Zelda was now dead in her arms. The Hylian princess had stopped breathing a short while ago.

Standing there, blade wet with blood, was a Stalfos. It was unlike anything Midna had ever seen, as on top of it seemed to ride odd gloves. The Stalfos had brown trousers and steel boots which reflected the sunlight that didn't exist. The Stalfos held no shield, only a bloodstained rapier. Midna had a single question: How, or where, in the names of the Golden Goddesses did a _Stalfos _get through the guards or the wall?

The Stalfos edged around the Raethied, green eyes (_Wait, green? _Midna thought. _Me and Link have fought plenty of Stalfos, but never one with green eyes) _checking to see if the monster had any weaknesses. The Raethied, blind to strategy, merely charged with whips. The Stalfos saw this coming, and spun. The blade cut into one part of the whip, making it draw back, and the other whip had a part cut off all together. The Raethied hissed, a sound like ice melting under extreme temperatures. The Stalfos advanced slowly, and eyed the gap in between the Raethied's scales near the pelvis. The Raethied launched out the whip-arms yet again, this time in a slightly more defensive manner. First, one arm tried to knock out the Stalfos' knee bones, but the blade, even when blocking, cut through the skin and scales like butter. Blood sprayed the ground as the Stalfos masterfully wirled out of the way of the other arm, and cut it off at the halfway mark. The Raethied screamed, bursting Midna's eardrums in earnest. It sounded like an animal dying. The Stalfos fought more offensively now, knowing it's weakness, blocking the loud cracking strikes and cutting down the Raethied's arms until it reached the monster's chest. Long, thick white teeth tried to snap at him, but the Stalfos leaped back, and when the jaws closed, sliced at the pelvis. The Raethied roared, which gave the Stalfos the time it needed to plunge it's blade into the thumper of the central chest, which sparked and died out. The creature started to rust, the orange color swiftly overtaking the beast, but not before the Stalfos sliced the weakened scales off of it's neck, and allowed the blood to spill all over the skeleton and the head to roll the other way.

The Stalfos looked at Midna. It seemingly smiled, and groped a grotesque face, or skull.

In front of Midna was a floating face, with red hair and two golden eyes streaked with white and blue and red and green.

"It's an honor, Twilight Princess." (Little did Midna know it, but this was a Face Master that had been watching the exchange, and watching Hyrule for any signs of the shadow.) The being responded, before disappearing in another flash.

Midna was left alone with two corpses, one of a monster, one of a close friend.

That was, until she heard her Hylian calling her name.

"Midna! Midna!" Link's voice echoed in the back alleys. She laid Zelda's corpse down and sprinkled a few of her tears before responding.

"Link?" She responded just loud enough so that he could hear. He heard her, and came running. He was covered in bluish black blood, obviously not his own. He looked in horror at Zelda's body and at the Raethied's body and at Midna. Then he noticed that Midna had the Triforce of Wisdom. He opened his mouth but Midna cut him off. "I'll explain later." She whispered, and took a few steps towards Link, tears brimming in her eyes from the horror of watching Zelda's life expire in front of her, when she could do nothing. Link immediately embraced her, not caring for the blood or the tears or the scene. Midna closed her eyes. She wanted it all to go away.

"You scared me." Link whispered, nuzzling his face into her neck. She stifled her cry for a moment.

"You know me," Midna laughed, out of breath. "Always the one to make everyone so scared and afraid, then pop up and save the day." She felt so warm and so relieved that she didn't want it to end when he pulled away. His big blue pools were slightly wet.

"It's ok," His voice was so low it was almost like he was mouthing the words. She happened to be standing in a footprint of where the Raethied walked, so he was looking down at her. He lightly kissed her forehead, noticing that she was blushing when he pulled away. "It'll be ok, Midna. I promise."

Midna was happy, then. Link was known not to break a promise.

And, it was the first time his lips, in any way, came in contact with her body. It was a start for them as something more, Midna hoped.

"We need to leave Castle Town, though," Link was whispering. "And we have to see if Ros is still alive." Midna nodded before an unmistakable sound struck incredibly close.

_Biwoofum._

* * *

_Biwoofum. _The ballista shot roared past Xul, landing in a Raethied. The creature's head popped, the shot tearing into the other Raethied. Xul sighed. These ballistae were strong, he gave them that much, but they were not enough. Not enough to hold back the Raethieds, and he figured he'd give the troops a warning.

"You're making my Raethieds angry," Xul commented. "I advise you just stand down."

The Knight made a gesture with one finger to Xul, who laughed.

"Alright then, your funeral, Knight." Xul changed their orders from being peaceful to attacking on anyone armed on sight, just to show dominance. Xul had a feeling he would win this battle.

* * *

Ros and the guard next to him loaded another ballista shot, and pushed it towards the gate, where the monsters were trying to break it down. Guards were being eaten alive and even someone with a knife was brutally slaughtered. Ros spotted the alleyway where Telma's Bar resided, and formulated a plan.

_Biwoofum._ The shot tore through the first line of Raethieds, landing near the alley Link gone in to find Zelda and Midna. Ros also spotted the Hero, who raised his sword and beckoned for Ros to go to him. Midna was standing next to him, looking at the destruction in shock. Ros pointed to a guard who was using a wooden crossbow, and they traded places.

The three guards at the gate were instantly killed by the Raethieds, who threw the door forward. Hylian blood splattered, and their weapons were dropped. Ros ran towards the front of the gate, and saw the monsters advance. He fired two bolts into one before picking up another crossbow and firing it's bolt into the same Raethied's face. The creature continued on, as if it hadn't been touched. Ros dropped the two crossbows he had been wielding and picked up the other two, firing randomly into the crowd of beasts.

Unfazed, the monsters continued their march. Ros ran at them, drawing his sword. A Raethied launched a whip at him, but was shot down by the other ballista. The enormous bolt had also pierced the beast behind his attacker. Ros sprinted towards Link, barely escaping a whip crack by rolling. The Knight was panting when he finally reached Link and Midna, the former helping him up, the latter shooting a bolt of shadow into the crowd of Raethieds. The one he had shot dropped.

"I softened it for you," Ros was still out of breath. "We need to-"

"Leave Hyrule." Midna and Link interrupted. Ros' eyes widened.

"What? No! We can't leave! We have to stay and protect the princess from these…" Ros trailed off as he followed Midna's gaze towards Zelda's opened body and the decapitated Raethied. "What the hell happened?!" Ros shouted. His eyes rested angrily on the Twilight Princess. "You could've protected her!" Ros' eyes burned. "Why didn't you?!" Only then did his eyes rest on the glowing triangle on Midna's right hand. "What the hell, Midna? What the actual hell?"

"Try not to have a conniption," Midna warned. "I'll explain everything when we get out of here, but they're after the Triforce. We need to leave-" Midna was cut off by the sound of a man screaming and yet another _biwoofum_, which was silenced, as if it had hit rubber, not a second after the shot sounded.

"Now!" Link finished, looking towards the end of the alley. It bordered the wall, which was nearly forty feet high by Ros's guess. "Midna, can you break the wall or warp us out?" The screams of agony were getting closer. Midna nodded, and Link took her hand. Ros placed one hand on Link's shoulder, the other bolstering his sword.

The last thing Ros saw of Castle Town was the city burning, and people screaming. He viewed it from above, as black squares.

* * *

Danuvius was not an ordinary person you'd see every day of your life.

He was quite tall for a dwarf, one of the generally short people that lived under the mountains (that nobody seemed to care about). He stood at 5 feet tall even, with a long black beard that nearly reached his knees, which was covered by his technological helmet. It was surprisingly well kept considering his low social caste, which resembled slaves, one could even call them indentured servants- the warrior caste. He had been called back to Hyrule by a friend, and took the warp machine to arrive there. He stood in front of a grand stone prison, almost the height of the tallest tower in Sukoth (where he had teleported from), which was covered in sand. It was incredibly hot in his power armor, which would've weighed him down considerably, but the marvel of dwarven engineering was something to behold. Five fifteen-foot tall skeletons with golden shoulders that depicted skulls waited for him.

"Danuvius?" A Stalfos asked. The dwarf, in his crimson and gold armor, nodded. "Stallord's been expecting you. Follow us." The skeletons gestured before entering the prison, and the dwarf followed.

* * *

Mrathil rode atop a white mare towards the small village of Ordon. The horse had greyed hair and was moving incredibly slow for Mrathil's taste. It trodded into the village, color and Mrathil's mother's mask attracting quite a bit of attention. But Mrathil wanted it, at least for today. At least for right now.

A small crowd had gathered around him, a fat man with a moustache that looked like horns and none other than that Illia had been there. Mrathil had been briefed on Orden's inhabitants, and remembered this girl quite well, for this young woman had befriended Courage, and Courage had to be found.

"Citizens of the village of Orden," Mrathil started. More and more people started gathering. This village had about twenty inhabitants, he had eleven. His plan was going well. "My name is Mrathil, and I'm here to tell you of what has transpired at Hyrule Castle today thanks to your hometown hero, the possessor of the Triforce of Courage." Mrathil heard the Illia girl whisper to the mayor.

"Link wouldn't have done anything, would he?" Illia whispered. The mayor shook his head in disbelief, not making eye contact with his daughter, but kept staring at Mrathil.

"How do we know you're not lying?" This voice was that of Rusl, the village blacksmith and foster parent of Link, who Mrathil now learned was in fact Courage. Mrathil grinned, but the villagers couldn't see it.

"Why would I lie when I bring proof?" Mrathil asked, his tone even. He gestured to a segment on the natural walls of Orden, and as the memory that Xul had smithed faded into view, and taking out the golden profile that was Courage and replacing it with Link. The villagers gathered around the story that Xul skillfully constructed.

It started with Courage leading the Raethieds into the walls of Hyrule, killing the outer guards. Courage broke down the gate with a burst from the Triforce, and people in the streets were killed by the Master Sword and the infamous Raethied arms. The story played on for about a half an hour, the villagers faces distorting in horror. Mrathil tapped into their emotions and, as they watched, made them go from feeling horror to feeling hatred. At the end of the memory, the vilalgers cried and averted their children's eyes as Courage put his blade through Wisdom's face.

"Now do you believe me?" Mrathil asked. The villagers murmured and nodded in agreement.

"Death to Link!" One cried out.

"Death to the Usurper!" Another cried out. Mrathil smiled.

All _was _working, indeed. Now, he had to leave the bait open for the king.

* * *

Link landed with a _plop _into Ordona's spring. Midna had landed on two feet not far away, and Ros-

Fell in just after Link, hitting the bottom of the shallow pool face-first.

"That hurt," Ros murmured, slipping his faceplate back on. "As did leaving." He spoke the last part in a whisper, but Link heard it, all the same. He whirled on the Knight.

"Do you think I wanted to leave? The capital of my home country, being devoured by those… _things?_" Link felt Midna tense when he said 'things'. The Hero of Twilight reminded himself that the Twili were still looked upon as monsters to the Light Dwellers (When the _hell _did he start calling his race Light Dwellers?), but not even close to the shade of black those things were. The Twili were white on the moral, if anything. "Leaving the fight is always hard. When you do leave the fight, it reminds you that you lost, and you went home to cry. It makes your pride, your honor, forget all about you. I pray to Farore that I could've stayed!" Link whispered. He diverted his eyes, looking towards where Orden was, and Midna looked out with her back turned to him, but listening. "There were more important… _objectives _than defending the city. We can at least hold down Orden." Midna took a deep breath in, soaking in his words at the same time that he spoke them to Ros.

"I'm eager to meet the villagers." Ros replied sarcastically, sheathing his weapon.

"Unlike you, I actually _am _eager," Midna butted in. "When I was with Link, I had to remain as a shadow because people would be terrified of me and think Link was working with the collective enemy." Ros and Link pondered something for a second.

"You really should put some clothes on." Ros answered sourly.

"Can you still hide in my shadow?" Link asked at the same time. The two of them locked eyes, Link in sheer disbelief Ros, his favorite student, had just said that to Midna, his best friend. Midna pointed to Ros.

"If I had some, I would," Midna kept a level tone. "But if you hadn't noticed, the castle's too busy burning for me to go get some. The castle-and the princess- that the elite guards were supposed to protect." Link felt the tension in the air rise considerably.

"At least Zelda died with her people and Palace. She must be happy somewhere." The Sacred Beast informed Link that the tension had, by this point, snapped, but neither made a move to do anything.

"Let's go meet my folks." Link said, putting his hands on both their shoulders. The duo broke glare contact before heading towards the village, namely Link's own house. There, a crowd of villagers waited. Link took his hands off of his friend and his student's shoulders.

"How could you, Link?" Illia's voice permeated the silence of the entire village, save for the children, rested their eyes on Link. Link raised a quizzing eyebrow, looking for Illia among the crowd.

"How could I what?" Link asked as Illia, blonde and stunning, exited the crowd in her usual garb. Illia's eyes were in horror.

"You'll have to understand why I have I to do this." Ros and Midna were standing shoulder to shoulder, connected by Link.

Ros drew his sword when Illia drew a knife, and aimed it at Link's terrified face.

"She's got a knife!" Ros shouted the obvious as he turned his blade on the flat and Midna jerked Illia's arm away. The knife collided with the blade, forcing the hard metal to turn downwards in submission. Link noticed that the only move the villagers made, Rusl included, was drawing swords.

"Why? What did I do?" Link croaked, slinging his shield over his right arm. Rusl snarled at him.

"You know exactly what you did, Usurper!" Midna visibly shook when the title was mentioned. Rusl advanced.

"Rusl! I never did anything, please, you have to believe me!" Link cried, unsheathing his sword. "I don't want to have to fight you!" Illia had sunk into the crowd. Rusl glared at Link.

"But I do, Link." Rusl swung his sword, but was intercepted by none other than Ros, who sliced open the blacksmith's arm. Rusl recoiled, eyes going wide at the sight of an injury, when Midna launched a bolt of white at him. The swordsman fell like a statue, eyes going blank. The crowd roared, and charged.

Link was cornered against the outer walls of his house, holding his shield up to defend him from blows. Ros bashed people's faces with the butt of his sword, for they were unarmed. However, Illia weaved her way back into the crowd like a snake, the glint of metal in her hand. Link was now crying, begging them, his family, to stop this.

Ros pushed people out of the way at the same time Midna froze them. Illia raised the knife over Link's head, completely unaware thanks to the Hylian shield taking the blows the other villagers were making.

Ros acted on a whim, and plunged his blade into her neckline. She fell with a gasp, tumbling to the ground like a sack of bricks (which Ros had soon too much of in the past few years.). The villagers stopped pounding on Link's shield and turned to Ros, backing away and whispering as the Knight pulled his bloodied blade out of the girl's neck.

"How could you do this?" A voice sobbed from the crowd. Link hefted his shield up, turning it to his side, when he saw Mayor Bo erupt from the crowd. "How could you do this to my Illia?" Link followed the Mayor's gaze, and saw the blood that poured from Illia.

Link also saw the blood on Ros' sword.

Mayor Bo began sobbing into his dead little girl while the crowd slowly backed away. The mayor was shaking like a leaf when his fingers went on Illia's eyes, closing them for the last time. He was sobbing as his sausage-like fingers wrapped themselves around the knife Illia had been carrying. He had whispered something about a meeting before the mayor took the knife out of his dead girl's hand, effectively committing suicide as he turned towards Ros, full of blood and his eyes screaming murder, and aimed the blade at the Knight's heart.

Ros danced around the blade and plunged his own sword into the Mayor's side with relative ease, and Bo collapsed next to Illia, dying before he hit the ground. Link was horrified beyond the limits he knew he could be horrified. His fr-, no, his _family_, had tried to kill him, being only saved by his favorite student, who had killed who would've been the mother of Link's children if the Twilight hadn't invaded and separated them. Link was somewhat aware that Midna had grasped his hand again, and gave it a gentle squeeze before slipping it out. Link returned it slightly before she could, though, and they watched as the villagers backed away.

Link's life had gone been delivered to hell in a handbasket in one day, nay, a few _hours_, flat.

How selfish he was, for the horrors had yet to truly begin. Link heard a dark laugh and a flash of purple and white before he had realized he was sobbing. The early morning dew was tainted with lifesblood, father and daughter dying together. It was an image Link could not forget, it was one of the many images that would give him strength in the coming storm. Link did not speak up when Midna recommended they sleep next to the spring and get a good nap.

* * *

Xul was incredibly mad at himself for not catching Wisdom and Courage In the warp, and killing them when he had the chance. He could only hope that Mrathil's plan had worked, and dismissed the subject as he told the Raethieds to gather in the center of Castle Town, which Xul crashed in. The Antithesis had broken the fountain into two halves, both of which were now spilling water and rupees onto the floor with the Antithesis and the Raethieds.

"We've more work," Xul explained. "You see-" _Biwoofum_. A ballista shot went through Xul's raised hand, which had commanded the Raethieds to him. The Lord of the Hallowed looked at the wound in shock, before looking at the perpetrator. On the ballista, the shot had already been in, was a dying Hylian soldier. His blood had sprayed the fine machine, grinning wildly as he marveled at his accomplishment. He was dying, Xul had no doubt, but the Antithesis pulled out the bolt and clapped. "You sir, are the soldier with the biggest guts I have ever seen in my life, and I've lived quite a while." Xul meant what he said, literally and metaphorically. This soldier seemed to have enlarged guts. Xul sensed a smile play onto the soldier's mouth.

"My name is Colin of Orden," The soldier was no older than a fourteen year old boy, who had held on with all his might. "And you are officially poisoned by yours truly." The boy, Colin, collapsed onto the ballista, the shouting too much for him to bear. Xul's eyes widened as he checked the armor, and to his horror, the skin beneath it had started to form, but it was orange with black veins running the length of the small patch of skin.

* * *

Link had fallen asleep quickly that night. When morning came, he looked around for Ros. The Knight was in the spring, feet kicking into it as he held his head in his hands.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Link whispered, silently hoping that Midna wasn't present, for she'd scold him for what he was about to do. The Sacred Beast didn't smell her, which was a good thing. "You killed two innocent people a few hours ago." His voice was hard. Ros stood up and turned to Link, faceplate down.

"I know," His voice was clearly tormented. "I ended two lives far too soon from their expiration dates. Do you not think it was-is, haunting the living hell out of me? I've killed people before, and that was when they were a danger to me, and were usually heavily armed men. But some girl barely in her twenties and her father? Sir, it's driving me insane." Ros whispered the last part. Link's gaze did not stop being cold.

"You get used to the killing," Link sounded like a mass-murderer who was speaking for his defense. "What you don't get used to is the family you tore apart." Link averted his eyes as Ros rubbed his with his thumb and index finger, not wanting the Knight to have any shame in any way.

"I was just trying to help you," Ros explained. "You didn't see the blade, and I didn't want you to die, so after I put it down once, it just rose again and…" Ros' voice was small. "I want to say I'm sorry, Sir," He put out his hand. "Friends?" He asked. Link smiled.

"Don't call me Sir. Call me Link," Link shook Ros' hand, and Midna, who had hid in the shadows and watched the encounter, smiled. "We're going to need a map, if we're to leave Hyrule. We have to go back and check my house." Link said. Ros nodded.

"Go east perhaps, get to a port, and leave the country. Good thinking, Si- I mean Link." Ros caught himself, and Midna yawned. She walked out of the shadows, pointing to the tunnel that was in the earth, explaining that she had come here from there and tried to make them not suspect anything. It worked on Ros, but Link knew better.

"You two need to hear the whole story, about this," Midna raised her right hand. "Right now. So sit a spell, for I've got a tale to tell." Midna sat cross-legged on the ground, followed by Link and Ros, and began her tale.

* * *

The red-haired man in the purple suit had stood there for three years, each day, for five hour intervals per day with two hour rests in between. He stood with his feet apart and his palms outstretched to a stone slab in the room, which resembled two Cs put together. To one not adept in magic, you could see nothing as he stood in the center of the room void of furnishings, holding his palms to the slab of marble. To one who knew magic, however, they could see the outlines of blue orbs the size of tennis balls leave his hands and siphon into the slab of platinum, where three triangle indents making a triangle indent lay inset. After two months, it had started turning lighter. After six months, it glowed yellow. After eighteen months, the top part of the triangle began appearing. Within thirty six, he finished.

With the last bolt of power indented into the triangle, the golden eyed man looked up at his creation. The upper triangle was glowing brilliantly.

The man in the purple suit had, with no flaws, reconstructed and withdrew the Triforce of Power from the Sacred Realm.

* * *

Wow, quite the chapter! It's awesome to see a ton of things colliding at once, wouldn't you say? I feel very good about this chapter but I still need reviews, and I've brought my fire extinguisher for putting out the flames. Who is the mysterious man in the purple suit (If you don't know, seriously, there's nothing I can do for you.)? What will Midna do with the Triforce of Wisdom? Why did Orden matter to Mrathil and Xul? Find out in the chapter of the epic saga in the making, The Price of Freedom! –End commercial cuts off- (I just realized this chapter's word length is over nine-thousand. Where's my Vegeta power scanner?)


	6. Chapter 4: Harbingers

T+ (16 and up.)

Sorry that it took so long to update! I had to do a ton of things, and my internet was patchy and even dead in some parts. This chapter is going to be strange for a lot of you, but awesome still. I have dropped a boatload of hints into this chapter, can you find them all? But that's one of the tricks I have hidden up my sleeve. Enough talk for now, on to war! Ahem, I mean, the next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Harbingers**

* * *

_Half a world away from Hyrule…_

The dark cloaked figure eyed the bar from a ways off, into the forest cover. The bar was short yet plump, the cloaked figure guessed around sixty feet at the sides, but no more than one story, which was nearly twenty feet tall. An orange glow pulsed from within, the bedrooms actively being used and the bar itself being quite full. The figure's cloak blended in with the shadows, allowing him to survey the structure with ease. The bar's pointed roof could make for a tough infiltration spot and tough exfiltration. The figure almost regretted the casualties that would be caused by the surrounding battle, but knew what had to be done.

The figure carried a hammer slung over his back, one edge flattened and one sharp. It was a dusty brown, once bronze, with strange gems inset on the edges. It was nearly twice the height of a full grown man, the gems giving the massive piece of metal an ethereal feel. However, the cloaked figure was not the size of a normal man, nearing ten feet tall himself. The form-fitting plate that lay on the figure's skin writhed and twisted in the moonlight, color draining from the armor and hiding away into the robe, powerful muscles underneath the armor trying to laze around. At the figure's hip lay a sword nearly four feet long, the size of an average child, which was a thin yellow. The sword's smoky pommel blended in with the black sheath, and nobody would have guessed that a golden sword was strapped there. The volatile enchantments made it hard to control when exposed to anything but the precisely crafted sheath, which kept it at a temperature where the energy wouldn't go haywire. Out of the figure's right boot, a short dagger hung. It was wrapped to the figure via a small belt that was tied around in a ropelike fashion, colors matching that of where the gold sword resided. The dagger's blade was a sickly green color, complexly enchanted. On the other hip of the figure a scepter was attached. This scepter was made of wood, handle pointing like a fork, with four edges. A purplish stone lay in the middle of the four pillars, glowing softly. Below the figure's hammer, a hand crossbow that could melt metal and stone lay, followed by thirty bolts.

In short, the cloaked figure was armed to the teeth.

The cloaked figure's target would be dead, and the title would be open for any willing guard: Commander.

The cloaked figure's target was Thommond Estucias, esteemed commander of the Fythos guards. The title came with an estate, personal barracks, and specially crafted equipment. A title that somebody wanted badly, but the cloaked figure didn't care about whom. It was tradition in Fythos for the nobles to have their own personal guards, and the Guard Commander was counted among them. The figure's intelligence had pointed him to a two-in-one bar, where Estucias had in fact entered. His sites were set in the room he had resided in, and didn't need his detection scepter to know that the Guard Commander had brought company.

It was a matter of precision, which the cloaked figure excelled at.

Despite the armor, the figure moved silently to the wall where Estucias was busy. Figuring that a crossbow bolt would be too loud, the figure unsheathed his glowing green dagger. It pulsed in response to his touch, glowing as he reached for the burning red bolts which were heated to an incredible degree. He broke the bolt's metal over the dagger, adding the enchantment to the blade, which drank it in like a hungry vampire. The figure put the blade to a stone, and sawed lightly, making an indent.

The Guard Commander in fact had two partners.

The figure rummaged through a pouch on his cloak to find exactly what he was looking for. A purple-black slip of parchment, with yellow runes edged in red, and a small slab of stone of the exact kind that made the bar, and a thin string. The figure placed the slip of paper on the bottom of the cut he made, topped by the stone. The figure lightly poked a hole through the paper with his dagger, and tied one end of the string around it. He dragged the string out as far as it would go, nearly twelve meters, before gripping the end with his hand. The figure simply thought of hatred and the string sparked. The figured placed it down carefully, ignoring the burn, and unsheathed his hammer.

The flame hissed, tearing up the string. The figure hefted his hammer, waiting in a peculiar position.

When the flame reached the slip of paper, it blew up.

The area that held the rock type disintegrated, becoming victim a miniature black hole which had a taste for that stone. As soon as the hole was done devouring that segment of the wall, the figure tossed his hammer, bladed edge landing with a satisfying _chrthink_ into the Guard Commander's exposed skin. The figure heard the women scream before leaving the room, and the figure entered, head brushing the ceiling. Before checking the body, the figure held up one hand to the door and one to the hole, funneling his energy into the raised palms. The room began to shimmer, than flare blue. The figure could hear the sound of one the employees banging her head on the sudden barrier, the figure guessing that blood was starting to peak from her forehead. The figure turned to the kill.

Estucias was not a handsome man. He had defiant brown hair that streaked grey and blonde. His high cheekbones and slits of brown eyes were anything but human, they looked almost ratlike. His ears were slightly pointed, drooping down near the middle of his face at the lobe. Estucias was plump, yet not utterly so, and on the side of his bed lay his undergarments and a green suit, four pieces also lay in disarray. The center of Estucias' chest was torn off, revealing the clotting blood like a cake. The figure's hammer was in the wall, cracking it. The figure decided that the kill was good and that he would leave the hammer as a necessary precaution, until he heard an unmistakable, almost harmonic voice.

"Killing guards? That's incredibly unlike you, Avatar." The familiar voice of a Face Master interrogated. The Avatar turned his head slightly, and saw the floating face next to the door. The Avatar shrugged.

"I didn't know we were back to titles, Face Master." The Avatar responded. The Face Master shook his…face.

"Between us, I don't know my real name. But, if you want me to call you Nox, then I will." The Face Master's voice was nigh of a whisper. Nox nodded.

"Shouldn't you give yourself a name then?" Nox asked with a quizzical finger. The Face Master… shrugged, he thought.

"Why bother? Nothing defines what I am, but at least you have definition, Ava-I mean Nox." The Face Master was upset.

"I am an Avatar. What my people did defies definition, Face Master. You just need to find yours, for everything-save for what my people did- deserves to be known." Nox assured. The Face Master smiled.

"Are you sure you're the Avatar of Blood? You honestly sound like the Avatar of Truth." The Face Master asked, putting an invisible hand over his non-existent mouth, stroking it like one would stroke a beard.

"The Avatar of Truth is, in short, a complete coward. We should get out of here." Nox tilted his head towards the door, which was being banged open.

"Want me to handle this one?" The Face Master asked, and when looking at a confused Nox, added "I have a new mask I want to try." Nox shrugged.

"Go ahead. I'll meet you at my home. You know where it is, correct?" The Face Master nodded, and pulled out a mask of some odd orange sludge. Nox glimpsed the Face Master's amazing true form in the flash of his friend putting on the mask.

The Face Master was about eight and a half feet tall, with a plated hood that covered all but his face. His armor had people walking about it, going on their daily business around the base of Fort Soth. The Face Master's true face had an indented mouth, and a small nose. The Face Master even possessed wings, skeletal things that protruded from his shoulder blades and waited in a pounce-like position. It was an amazing sight, if only briefly it could be viewed.

What replaced the Face Master was a humanoid pile of orange gloop with no face.

"The children of dust need you," The Face Master pointed at Nox. "I'll be there soon, but prepare to actually help them out, the ones that actually worship what _they_ did." Before Nox could ask why, The Face Master ripped open the door and Nox was gone.

* * *

The Face Master saw the Avatar of Blood leave, and prepared for what lay behind the door.

Behind the door were three burly male guards in plate that carried swords and spears. Behind them, there were cowering women. Behind them, there was an old man with spiky white hair on the sides of his head and glasses. The guards were not pleased when they saw the Face Master's form, and not knowing what it was, they backed up. The Face Master backhanded one of the guards, knocking him out and likely, thanks to the helmet, giving him a concussion. One tried to launch his spear into the Face Master's chest, which separated and collapsed around the guard's hands. The guard screamed, allowing the Face Master to gain leverage by pulling back and punching that guard upside the head. He dropped just fast enough for the last guard to throw his spear at the Face Master's head, but the gloop of the face simply grabbed the spear, and turned it around.

"This is what I get for trying to fight a slime." The guard whispered. The Face Master nodded.

"Aye." Then the spear was thrown through the guard's chest, killing him instantly. The Face Master left the screaming women to their barkeep, and remembered the hammer when he was in the woods. The Face Master rose a slimy hand, and the hammer flew back, destroying half of the bar's infrastructure. It collapsed with a _Shrik-Dawooo_, leaving some bedrooms open for forest view.

The Face Master smirked at his work before taking the Slime Mask off and jogging to Nox's home.

* * *

"Alright, we need that map of Hyrule. It should be in my house." Link pointed from the brush to his treetop home. Ros and Midna nodded.

"Ready?" Ros asked, taking out his own crossbow. Midna nodded.

"I'll get anyone inside." Midna said, whirling through her mental spellbook for something that wouldn't kill, but knock out. She didn't want to risk another pacification, just in case.

"No, that'll be me." Link whispered grimly, unsheathing his sword. Ros' eyes widened.

"You're known as a hero here, Link. I am but a soldier, so I will handle it." Ros was not happy. Link nodded.

"So be it. Here's my key, I'll cover the six, just in case." Link gave Ros a wooden key. The Knight nodded, and ducked out of the brush and climbed up the ladder and unlocked the door. Midna and Link followed suite.

"That was probably all commando-like for nothing." Midna shrugged. Link smiled sheepishly and tried to clean up some things.

"I honestly didn't remember what bad state this thing was in." Link waved away cobwebs and dust. Ros stood by the small window, crossbow at the ready.

"Link, it's fine, honestly," Midna gave her signature laugh, the one that she gave when they first met. "It's not lik-" Midna tripped over a raised piece of floorboard, and her head landed on an upturned nail. Link rushed to her side, pulling the nail out and yelling at Ros to find some water and towels. Midna's milky white head now had orange blood running down it.

"Damn it…" Link whispered. "How the hell did she even-" Link turned around, and saw that the raised piece of floor was gone.

* * *

Midna awoke, laying down, in the burning street of an absolutely enormous city. The ground and the sky were both red, and the buildings were crumbling and a burning red. Buildings crumbled without end, flames touching the sky and smoke clouding the air above her. Midna got to her feet slowly, gazing at the hellish landscape around her. She thought that this was the Twili hell, were every Twili went when they died.

But she hadn't died. She had fallen on a nail. That didn't cause death, and she felt something wiping her forehead.

"Where am I, then?" Midna asked nobody in particular, then heard screaming and the sounds of battle she was all too familiar with. She ran to the sounds, and gasped at the sight.

Two armies met in the streets. One was partially made of large beings that she knew were Raethieds, other infant sized with claws for hands, others thin like paper that had a cloud of darkness surround them, handing out the innards of the poor sap that joined the creature. At the head of the army was the shadow that had destroyed Hyrule, and a seven-foot tall creature with a purple, heart shaped mask as a face. At the head of the other army, there were many different people, and the soldiers were made of what appeared to be Hylians and other strange people. Link spearheaded the army, next to him was a woman in white robes with a bow and a stone humanoid creature. A flying creature also stood next to them, as did a tall person with a greatsword and someone with a faceplate and a chainmail hood. One of the Raethieds reached for the robed archer, but was ended by the stone creature flipping it on the backside and stepping square in the thing's face. They nodded at each other, and continued the fight. Midna watched the carnage, and did not see the creature that stood beside her.

"This is your future, harbingers of what's to come," The creature made Midna jump. Midna turned around, and gazed upon an average height being of shiny metal. Small orbs danced around it, zapping it and producing other things. It had no face, only a bubble. It was as blank as Midna could've possibly guessed something could be. "One of many possible ones." Midna watched in horror as the masked creature approached Link, who was busy fighting off one of the thin creatures. She saw the metal clank and spark in what felt like slowed time as the masked thing approached.

"Who are you?" Midna asked, one eye on Link and the other on the featureless metal creature. She realized that Link looked aged, grays appearing in his hair and features hardened and veins more pronounced. "Why are you showing this to me, if this is only a possible future?" Midna asked suddenly, feeling the Triforce of Wisdom burning. The creature turned to her.

"My name is not important at this time period," The metal creature answered. "However, I show you this to know that this is a cause of your selfishness." Midna became infuriated.

"How am I selfish?" She snapped, heart turning to stone as the masked creature's blade plunged into Link's midsection, orange blood spraying the sword. The masked creature put a glass vial under the blood, collecting it. He raised the sword and shouted for the shadow, who was fighting with sixteen tendrils of shadow and two arms. Thirty people were trying to kill him, and as he finished the last one, he caught the vial.

"Because you left the Mirror of Twilight, and because of many other factors," The creature responded, watching as the hooded shadow drank the blood and shouted in joy. "The factors are in place for this to have happened. You leaving let the storm that would've ravaged the sky will rain down onto the world. Because you left the Mirror of Twilight, the Palace of Twilight is destroyed and you will join them in this storm. Because you still cared for the Hylian, the futures of him committing suicide, or the Princess Zelda stealing him, are gone. Because you didn't break the Mirror, his descent into madness will not happen." Midna could not believe these words. She left the Mirror so that Link would come visit. How would she ever care enough for anybody else, enough so that Link would descend into madness from possible rejection? Midna also made note of the creature practically saying that if she had not cared for him the way she did, he would commit suicide. The chances of Zelda doing anything were gone.

"Why is it so dependent on me?" Midna asked in a small voice, watching as the creatures pushed back the others, killing them off.

"Because of you," The creature continued. "Because you cared and were selfish, the chances of this storm passing by were slim to none. This is one of the outcomes of this future. No matter _what _you decided to do, _no _storm was as dangerous as this one. Except for the future where Ganondorf survived Link's killing, and you remained an Imp for a while, and actually allied with Ganondorf. That future was somewhat as dangerous as this one, though the outcome was almost always winning," The creature looked her in the eye. "This is the most frequent future, now."

A being ran from the retreating army, half black and half white. Around it was an aura of gold, which vaporized the other creatures. It expelled the aura by Link's corpse, burning the masked creature. The winged shadow took a few steps back as the equal creature collapsed.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't be here sooner," The being sounded young. "I'm so sorry that I did this. Please forgive me." The being's voice cracked up as he raised the back of his right hand, which held two glowing triangles, and the Triforce of Courage was absorbed into the creature. The being took a deep breath, and the full Triforce began to glow. The being took a step towards the hooded shadow and raised a hand, sending it through the buildings before levitating and turning to Midna.

"Go, M-" The metal creature blotted out the future, making them stand on an empty white landscape. Midna tried to wrap her mind around that the pronunciation wasn't the _meh_ that started her name, but _muh_. Midna guessed that because of the thing's voice, it sounded different from her and Link's pronunciation.

"Why did you do that?" Midna whirled on the metal creature.

"It was powerful enough to know it was being watched," The creature retorted. "You need to prevent what I just let you view at all costs." The creature walked away, getting bigger with every step.

"Wait!" Midna called. The creature turned around, now nearly eighty feet tall. "What do I call you, and what do I do?"

"Call me the Chronographer, and the first thing you have to do is get out alive," The Chronographer pointed upwards. "Your hero's calling you." And then the vision faded.

Midna awoke to Link's worried face less than a foot over hers. Behind him, she saw Ros and his crossbow still pointed out the window. Link's eyes were scanning her forehead for any more traces of blood. When they went downwards to her eyes, Link smiled widely.

"You're okay," Link put a slightly shaking hand to hers. "Come on, we've got to find that map," He choked, helping Midna up. "Then I've got to take a bath, get this blood off of me." Midna remembered that she had given Link the blood by accident when the shadow had taken over the city.

"I do too," Midna murmured, one eye on Link's face, which grew mischievous. "Not together, Link!" She remarked, pointing to the back room which he usually kept his bath things. "You first!" Midna commanded and pointed towards the room, and Link went without an argument. Midna watched as he started it, remembering that his obedience was one of the great things about the Hero of Twilight.

"Look for the map while I'm soaking!" Link called. Midna rolled her eyes. "It should be around the bookshelf somewhere!" Midna's eyes lingered for a small while longer then they should have.

"You know," Ros started when Link was in the bath he made, not moving from his position. "Staring at him like that will get you nowhere." Midna blushed, turning around and watching Ros still stand at the window.

"And what would you know in regards to Link?" Midna asked, crossing her arms.

"I know something that you probably don't. Link holds his friends and his enemies at a medium range," Ros closed one eye. "The people he really treasures, he either throws them away or holds them to his chest, depending on who they are. For me, it was the former," Ros was as keen as an eagle, still watching anything that moved. "It was no secret I was his favorite student. However, he still would try to toughen me up. Your adventure turned me harder than I was before. How he makes it out… I'm pretty sure it's the latter, with you," Ros whispered. "It was always Midna this, Midna that, for a while, until it died down and he forgot, I suppose." Ros was barely audible. "You don't need anything special to figure out that you inspired him."

"What do you mean 'anything special'?" Midna asked. Ros gazed down from the crossbow, looking at the area of the wood that Midna had tripped on, which was now level.

"Let's forget this conversation ever even happened." Ros looked Midna in the eyes, her flaming eyes battling with his dark green ones.

"Agreed." Midna responded darkly.

"Find the map yet?" Link asked from the bath, and Midna remembered what she was asked to do.

"Not yet!" She said, looking through the bookcase where Link said it should be. Dust covered the once bright spines, some red and some blue and some green and most brown and black. Midna found a slip between two books, and pulled out a slip of parchment. Midna blew on it, revealing a map of Hyrule. "Found it!" She called.

"Good! You and Ros work out a plan, I'll finish up, and then we'll switch." Midna paid Link no mind as she looked towards the map of the landlocked country. Towards the east, there was a port marked 'Synfester'. Midna made a mental marker and looked at the boundaries- there were mountains and a small plain barring them from it.

"Got a plan!" Midna called, and Ros raised an eyebrow. Midna scurried around Link's house, looking for rations.

They had to leave this place.

* * *

The Face Master patrolled the halls of Fort Soth, an invisible sentry and guardian. The Face Master counted each torch, numbered each hallway, and found each nook and cranny that was available to them in their new home. It was not like the Face Master despised this home, it was just less… exciting, then the old home. In total there were one-thousand three-hundred and two torches, six hundred fourteen hallways, and over nineteen thousand nooks and crannies.

The Face Master came to the Construction Hall, where the Mask Lord resided, siphoning power every day most times a day. The Mask Lord wore a purple suit as always, and unlike the Face Masters, had a finished version of the face they knew so well. When the Face Master entered the Hall, he saw why. In the slot where the Mask Lord worked for the past three years, there lay a glowing triangle.

"You completed it." The Face Master whispered. The Mask Lord nodded.

"Indeed." He joyfully laughed.

"Who will use it?" The Face Master asked in a laugh.

"One of the Heroes. We just have to wait for them to come for them to obtain their gift." The Mask Lord shrugged. The Face Master's stomach turned to rocks.

"Oh," The disappointment was not hidden. "I suppose they will have use of the masks too, then?" The Face Master asked, crossing his arms. The Mask Lord nodded.

"They _are_ Heroes, after all." The Face Master felt like he was being talked down to, even though he was double the height of the Mask Lord.

"And what if they betray us?" The Face Master asked. The Mask Lord's face darkened.

"Then you'll have to kill them all." The Mask Lord was barely audible. The duo stood in silence for a moment.

"Lunch?" The Face Master asked after a moment of silence.

"Why not?" The Mask Lord shrugged, and the two of them left the room, thinking of honey roasted animals.

* * *

"So… Where exactly is this?" Link asked Midna after she got finished bathing, and had shed her scant clothing (which she, for some reason, put into her Vault) for leather and robes. It was extremely tight on her, and nearly as revealing from Link being somewhat shorter than her. The scar that taunted him was still visible, reminding him of the fact that he failed to protect her after Lakebed Temple. They had asked Ros, who was stained with the blood of Illia and Bo, but he declined in favor of watching the door with his crossbow. Midna reached over his shoulder with a sigh and pointed towards the port. Her exposed arm that was frequently used for magic brushing his made a chill run down his spine. Link had never been one to be shy, but the touch of magic could not be resisted, as he had not even a fathom of the training Midna did in regards to magical abilities.

"It's called Synfester. It's the closest port in the wilderness, but still easier to access than any other northern one, the southern ones being in a different country, and the western ones being quite far north. We can reach it from here," Midna pointed on the map to almost the direct location of Link's house. "We just need to cross a few mountains or so and a small plain. Do you have your rupees?" Her voice was in Link's ear. The Hero nodded.

"About five hundred," Link replied, shaking his bag of money. "Do you really think we'll need them?" Link asked. Midna bit her bottom lip.

"The currency that the port might take could be different from here, so…" Midna turned around, and in a few seconds, tossed Ros and Link thick woolen cloaks before adorning herself in one.

"We should get moving." Ros finished. Link and Midna nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go." Link opened the door to his house, bright sunlight entering the house. To Midna, it looked like Link was bathed in a white light. She smiled softly, absorbing the Hylian's features. A mischievous thought played into her mind, but she quickly dispelled it. It wasn't like Link would feel the same way, but what the Chronographer had said if she had decided to feel differently… Link would possibly commit suicide _if _she left him.

Was it actually possible for the two of them to…? She shook her head. She wouldn't think of this. Midna decided that she would revisit the subject if the circumstances were right.

But what about getting out alive? Getting out of _what _alive?

* * *

Captain Maera Fiesthey rushed through the Grand Hall of the Insumnios people. Guards with their pointed helmets and swords saluted her, and she nodded back, all in a blur as she attempted to reach the Allmother. The corridor was dark, dimly lit as per the Insumnios fashion. Her helmet extended her senses farther than they would've been, and she could guess that her ETA was in a minute. Her slim yet strong body carried her some ways into the Grand Hall before she had to rely on her armor, which allowed deft movement, to carry for the rest of the way. Her weapons hung at her hips and back, sheathed in the honorable Insumnios fashion. Her Amplifier and her collection of emergency one-shot spells lay in a bag tied around her neck. Her natural spells were potent, but weak enough to be held back by the regal cloak she wore. Maera stopped at the doors, a hundred feet high and made of the finest stones available.

She opened the doors, using the Insumnios in-elven strength, to the Grand Hall with a thud.

The Allmother's throne chamber was nothing short of bafflingly amazing.

Precious gems of all shapes and sizes lay inset into the walls, glowing with a rainbow-like light. The room was shaped like an egg, with a small path leading to the center of the room, which held pool-blue crystals at certain intervals. The center of the room held many of these crystals coalesced into one spot, illuminating the black throne that a creature sat. That creature had fifteen burning orbs of yellow and purple that happened to be closed. The head of the creature was shaped like a Y, most of the eyes being housed on the split of the head. The other part of the head was, unlike other Insumnios (or at least, unlike Maera.) was a beak that could break into hundreds of parts to swallow prey. The creature had sixteen legs, all of which were attached to the throne or to the crystals in some way. The arms of the creature were gigantic Is, ending in a clawed paw of a hand. Maera also knew that this creature neared ninety feet in height.

It was hard to believe that the Insumnios had come from this, that this was the Allmother. The giant beast stirred from her slumber when she heard Maera enter, and whispered at her with level eyes.

"Yes, young one?" The Allmother asked, tilting her head. Maera bowed and went down on one knee.

"O great Allmother, I have knowledge that you may wish to know." Maera announced, her voice loud.

"Then speak it." The Allmother demanded. Maera nodded, and cleared her throat.

"The Winged Tyrant is approaching our homeland." Maera practically shouted.

"I know this, young one." The Allmother cooed. Maera raised her head.

"Allmother?" Maera asked.

"Prepare for war," The Allmother commanded darkly. "For that is what the Tyrant wants." Maera nodded her head reluctantly.

"Yes, Allmother." Maera stood, put her right fist over her face and made it a palm before leaving.

Both of them regretted that it had come once again to this.

* * *

I know, short update, but I really wanted this to end here. I'm sorry.

Again, the Storm thing is unintentional. I really wanted to make it clear that this would be the worst thing to come.

If you noticed the Silent Kingdom reference, you get a cookie!

If you noticed the Amalur reference, you get a Castle Windmere!

If you truly want to know what that last part about the Mask Lord is, I'm trying to convey to you readers the sense that the Face Masters and the Mask Lord are all still alive, and that they need food.

Kudos, and as always, reviews appreciated!


	7. Chapter 5: After the Fall

I'm sorry these past few chapters have been incredibly late, that's because my internet was down quite frequently. This is one of those chapters where you just don't want to continue. I actually had writer's block, but then a stupendous idea came to me. What is it? Well, read on and find out good reader! A new chapter awaits after this long author's note. Also, a quick note, sometimes I'll be putting one or more song suggestions into these author's notes. When I do, you _should _open up a few tabs of and enter these songs. When you a see an italic +, it means start the song. When you see a -, that's the sign to take it off. With different songs, it'd be in bolds, italic and bold, etc. For the flashback, take my warning that it's very bloody.

Song: Invincible by Two Steps from Hell

* * *

**Chapter 5: After the Fall**

* * *

Maera was not prepared for what had come in the past few hours.

As a Captain, her status was only formality. She had no real command, but since she knew how to wield the sword, a Captain's weapon, she was given the status. She had rallied the troops, despite how utterly bewildered they were upon the Tyrant's coming. Apparently, the pact with the Lux people had failed miserably. The Tyrant's true name, said the Lux that took him from their grasp (Maera never trusted those winged beasts), was Xul. It made no sense at all to Maera, but still she rallied the troops and went to the walls of the castle.

The castle was made of black and blue rocks, scraping the ceiling of the cave that had become their home. How they were found again Maera did not want to know, but they were in a cluster of mountains. Mountains. Maera was astonished that this 'Xul' could track them this far. The soldiers, unarmed and steady, stood with blackish blue metal armor in lines towards the front of the castle. Maera stood behind them, at the gates. Her sword, a piece of metal so slick yet powerful and enchanted, was at her hip. It extended long, brushing the ground in a tail-like fashion. The blade's curves complimented Maera's armor, which fitted perfectly with the shape of the Captain's body. A shadow appeared next to her.

"Maera." The shadow was entirely black-skinned, with glowing frosty blue eyes. It had no mouth, and stood almost double Maera's height. Darkness radiated from it. Maera could recognize him anywhere, her (self)magically-augmented brother, Savos. He leaned one leg against the gate.

"I should've known you'd show." A smile played on her lips, hidden by the helmet all of the Insumnios people. Another reason she was jealous of her older brother. He had augmented himself beyond recognition, not needing a helmet. The only thing that any Insumnios could see of one another behind their helmets was their eyes. Maera's were shaped normally, and she could tell her irises were orange and purple. So majestic they were she got lost in herself some times.

"I'm not one to miss a battle," Savos sounded like he was going to an office, not about to fight in a war. He was far the superior spellcaster between them. He cocked his head slightly, frowning. Maera understood that his cloak of darkness that had become his skin was even worse than the helmet. One could only see his eyes. Maera's brother used to be built. But then, the discovery of magic came along. "Hear that?" He whispered.

Maera tried, and in fact heard it. It was a slight rumbling, like a slow-moving giant worm. Like the top off of a bottle, the castle's top spire popped off and out came the shrieking figure of the Allmother.

"Allmother?!" Maera yelled in bewilderment. The troops were shouting and pointing at the giant, who screeched and crawled her way onto the front lines. Very few soldiers were crushed, as most had the brains to move and let the Allmother land.

"I didn't know the top of the castle opened." Savos shouted, flicking his wrist. The pieces of the top began rearranging themselves and putting themselves back onto the top.

"I bring bad news, fellow Insumnios," The Allmother was being grim, not unlike usual. "Not only is the Winged Tyrant coming, but he has an army, an army that will rip their prey to shreds. This is why today, I fight alongside you," The Allmother was not only scaring them, but raising their spirits. Maera's jaw dropped. "I fight alongside you so that you may know that there is a war coming. A war that will affect every living creature on this planet. This place, today, is the birth of the World-Eating War. We will need to fight tooth and nail to be able to survive," The Allmother was doing something that was incredibly unlike her. What was she even talking about? World-Eating War? "Even though most of us will not. Those of us who do survive should head to the Archipelago, where the Queen will be waiting. We need to stop them here. Now, who will join me in battle?" At the last comment, she raised her arms in a shrug. It took a second, but the Insumnios' chorus of voices rose in a battle cry.

Which was drowned out by a guttural roar that shook the cavern. The cry stopped short as tall beings with whips for arms entered, roaring and indenting the stones without making any noise. Maera regretted that the Elswood Trees had been noticeably torn down. At the front of them stood a shadow, tendrils lashing out at the very world. Maera's heart dropped and Savos growled.

"Leave this place, O Antithesis," The Allmother growled. "Why come for those who have done no wrongs?" The Antithesis held up a finger.

"That's where you're wrong, Allmother," The thing known as Xul retorted. "You captured me. Took me alive. Tortured me. Had me beaten within an _inch _of my life," The voice was incredibly cold. "And now I'm here to return the favor, with passion." Xul raised a hand, forming a black spear.

"Charge!" The Allmother cried, Xul raising his wings. White swords and spears spawned out of them, like eggs that hatched immediately. Maera unsheathed her sword, the metallic ring staying in her helmet for a short while, just long enough that she didn't hear Savos begin levitating or pick up blades mentally. They were incredibly sharp, all conjured from seemingly nowhere. Savos pointed at Xul, and the blades of darkness flew, followed by more in a machine-like process.

The two armies met in the rock hall, which was nowhere near big enough to house them in.

Screaming men were dragged to their deaths and big whippy creatures were punched to death as the two forces collided. Savos and Xul dueled with conjured blades midair, The Allmother ravaging the whippy creatures. Maera stuck her blade in the forehead of one, only to turn around and stick it in another. To her, it felt like a game of tag. This body was it. Now this one. The count just piled up, however slowly. A boom rocked the cavern, shaking her vision of an Insumnios beating a whippy creature that had brutally torn apart a brother to death.

Xul was dragging Savos' body along the cavern wall. The body split apart, and the positions of the two reversed. This struggle went on for a small while before Savos blasted the Antithesis off of him, sending him crashing into the other side of the cavern. Savos' hands flickered blue, spells coming to literal light. Savos raised a palm to Xul, and a beam of blue light shot over the battlefield. It bounced off of Xul's shield and hit a whippy creature in the back of the head, focused light killing it instantly.

"You're good," Xul complimented before drawing a blade that Maera had not seen. "But I'm better!" Xul charged, allowing Savos to disappear in smoke and come up behind him. Xul whirled backwards and was shot with another beam of focused light, forcing him to fly upwards. The Allmother had taken on nearly sixty of the forces that made Xul's army.

"You sure about that?" Savos asked, rolling in mid-air. Maera recognized this as 'Sky-Swimming' as Savos called it. She watched the epic battle while around her, so many creatures were dying. Savos hammered on Xul's shield like a madman, glowing white with each consecutive hit. Xul plunged his blade through Savos' chest, causing the mage to drop to the ground.

"Yes." Xul growled, and followed Savos. The Insumnios smiled before separating in darkness, recollecting himself behind Xul and launching a kick at his exposed back, following with a beam of light. Xul went flying into the castle. Savos turned to Maera, and raised a hand. The Captain ducked, the beam of light soaring behind her and hitting one of the whippy creatures square in the chest. The light burnt it immediately.

"Go! Get out of here!" Savos roared, waving Maera away. Maera realized what her brother was going to do. "Go find Thnron. I'll catch up to you. Maera, go!" Savos raised a hand, and the ground beneath her was lifted. Maera watched with wide, crying eyes as her brother levitated the piece of rock and sent her out of the cave, soaring over the downed trees and the clearing of destruction that Xul had made.

_Chrnshrn_.

Maera watched with an emotion she never thought she would feel as the cavern collapsed for her brother.

Proud. He had always done the wrong things, trying the easy way out of anything he could find. He even changed his species practically to get his helmet off. She loved her brother, as headstrong as he was potent, but she was never proud of what he had become. He was a sigil of embarrassment for the family name, but now, looking at the destruction and realizing that he had in all likeliness sacrificed himself and the castle to take out one of the most dangerous beings to exist she felt like what Savos had become was worth something, not just an offspring that he and power had conceived. Maera would remember this day.

* * *

The Chronographer was not pleased with what the Insumnios known as Savos had done. Not pleased in the slightest. Now, thanks to that creature that had decidedly taken a castle down for no absolute reason, the futures that Xul would leave the Chronographer alone.

Though, as the Hylians said (or would say, the Chronographer got expressions confused quite frequently), there was no rest for the wicked. No rest for the interloper wedged in time.

The Chronographer checked his paths, and decided the best course of action was to eradicate the remaining Insumnios. He would do just that.

"I will direct this personally." The Chronographer growled, and, on his throne of clocks, switched his viewpoint from the Insumnios to a creature under the sea. If he had a mouth, one would see that the Chronographer smiled.

* * *

"We have to… scale _that_?" Ros asked, craning his head to look up the mountain. Clouds drifted lazily around the middle, uncaring of the great spire that commanded they part for the other half. Midna made a _tsk _sound.

"No," She started. "There's a pass somewhere in the mountain. We have to find it."

"Somewhere being the key word there." Ros muttered. That duo had scaled and fought so many things, how could he compare to two _legends?_ He posed this question to himself with content as Midna and Link decided on a path.

"How about we just go under it?" Link asked Midna with a raised eyebrow. The Twili's mouth dropped in thought, before her eyes sparked.

"Link… Did you smarten up while I was gone?" Midna smiled playfully. Link shrugged with a smile.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"You could take it as such, furball." Midna elbowed him. Link laughed.

"What about _through _it?" Ros asked, taking a hand off of his chin. The two of them looked at the Knight.

"How exactly do you propose this?" Link asked slowly, one eyebrow up. It was Ros' turn to smile.

"Midna," Ros began, scanning the mountain. "You can create bombs of a sort to carve out a tunnel. I can show you where the mountain is hollow," Looking down and seeing their confused faces, he added "I took a geomancy for dummies class long ago. It was for people with no magical talent whatsoever, learning some of the non-magical things that mages can do. I only stayed long enough to determine hollow and filled things in nature, however." Midna bit her lip.

"It could work, in theory," Midna turned to the mountain. "Or we could go over it." Ros sighed. Back to square one, once again.

"Fine, let's head up. It's not like we'll be killed while up there." Midna turned swiftly to Ros, eyes wide. _I hope_, he added to himself.

The threesome began the climb, gripping the gray-blue rocks with intent. As they climbed higher, Ros noticed that it was getting slightly harder to breath. They climbed with an eagerness that was rare to be found. The mountain had separated into two at one point, creating a diamond shaped indent. Within it was blackness.

"What the hell is this?" Link was the first to see it. "A cave?"

"Not natural, by the looks of it." Ros murmured. What could create such an oddly shaped den?

"Want to go in?" Midna asked. Ros' eyes shot wide and Link sighed.

"Still an imp, aren't you, Midna?" Link peered into the darkness, nodding. "We would need a light before we could possibly think about going in there. Way too dark." Taking the hint, Midna flicked her wrist and conjured a ball of light. It hung in the air, radiating against the stone cold of the mountain, which gave Ros a burning chill whenever he touched it.

"Shall we?" Link looked to Ros and Midna. Midna nodded, but Ros shook his head. At this, Link frowned.

"What's the matter, Ros? Scared of the dark?" Midna teased. Ros blushed at this, but Ros held his ground.

"And what if the thing that made this cave comes home for lunch and is lucky enough to find three trapped little people?" Ros asked. "A rule that I was taught the hard way: Have a watch." Ros growled the last words, glancing at his shoulder. How he got that scare was something he was not likely to forget, even in old age.

_"Stay inside!" Ros' sibling yelled, drawing a blade. The blade's metallic ring was drowned out by the sounds of people screaming and their lifesblood being squished out onto the streets, as if they were mere toys. Ros drew the other sword hanging on the family walls, his brother turning to him with bewilderment. Ros' sibling's family had been invited over for a fine feast, but now Mother and Ros' brother's wife and the children lay cowering in a corner. "What do you think you're doing?!" _

_ "Alone you'll die, Ian," Ros growled. "I'm coming with you whether you like it or not, no hero shit allowed." Ian and Ros locked eyes for a crucial moment, older brother and world traveler locking eyes with the younger brother and stay-at-home guard in training. _

_ "Don't get yourself killed." Ian growled, swinging open the door. Clouds of darkness coalesced in the street, flashes of red exploding like bombs. Ian and Ros charged randomly into the darkness, slicing whatever they could find that held a pinkish-red light in the center of a humanlike chest. Both of them bloodied their blades, slicing into darkness, not getting trampled for some reason. After twenty slices, Ros heard a sickening _Bigurk_! His head whirled around, and saw the crippled body of Ian. His limbs were bent in different directions, three fingers ripped off. A pool of blood formed from the claws of the beasts, which tore into his stomach. Ros dragged his brother off to the side, into an alley. The red covered his hands._

_ "Ian," Ros' voice cracked. He felt something wet coming down his face and realized that it was tears. The demented body looked at Ros slowly._

_ "Look who got themselves killed instead?" Ian asked with a small smile. Ros nuzzled his face into his brother's back, begging for him not to die. "It's ok, Ros. I… I think I see a Golden Goddess. I think it's Din… Or Farore," He whispered. "She says I can wait for you, in the…" Ian's chest went flat. Ros sobbed for a moment, ignoring the darkness that in turn ignored him._

_ He was rudely interrupted by a collective scream. _

_ Ros turned the corner and saw the ends of one the dark beast enter _his _house. _

_ "No." Ros whispered. He ran to the door, opening it, and his heart hardened at the sight. A dark creature was slurping up the children, Mother and Ian's wife already dead. Ros charged without thought, slicing into the creature's back. It swiveled on him, slicing his shoulder open. Hot liquid gushed down his arm, but he ignored the pain, and surged through it. He sliced at the monster's chest, staggering it slightly. He followed up with a point blank execution through the neck, blade causing it to gurgle and gasp for precious oxygen. But Ros was not finished, and smiled at the sign that it wasn't dead. He'd have his fun before he let up a relentless assault, and he wanted the thing to feel it in every waking moment. _

_ He grabbed one arm, and placed a foot on it. With his sword arm, Ros sliced into the beast, which would've caused it to howl, but the blood began to clot in the thing's throat, slowly choking it. Hot black blood spilled like a dam and mingled with his own as one arm came off, which he flung to the side. Keeping it alive, he turned it on the side where all limbs were intact and pushed a blade into the reproductive organs betwixt the beast's legs. Ros grabbed the beast by the hair and groped the shield which hid the thing's face with mal intent. He was able to rip it off, and gripped tentacle like hair with one hand, flipping it over. The blood from the arm began to pour again. Ros flipped it so that a horrified, choking, wild face with burning red eyes stared up at him, snarling. Ros reached his hand into the thing's mouth, forcing it open._

_ "I hate you, I hate you, _I hate you!_" Ros chanted, stabbing it all over the face, leaving the brain for last. Blood began to spill from the face, and the shadow beast's expression changed from that of 'see you later, bitch' to a 'WHY?' As it neared death, Ros looked in the beast's eyes, glaring at the soft pools of red. Ros watched with a snarl as the shadow beast, choking and bleeding death, squirmed in front of his eyes. Ros' hand found a way to the flesh that made up a neck, and ripped. Ros lost himself in the joyous feel of the creature's blood that day._

_ He ignored it all as he walked towards his mother's corpse, now sobbing._

_ "I'm so sorry." He whispered, and did the only logical thing. He fainted, blood from a gushing wound mixing with that of children and adults and the monster that had killed all but one of them. One that swore he would achieve vengeance in any means possible. Ros would be later found by the guards, and when seeing the sight, lifted him off to the castle immediately. It took weeks, but Ros eventually recovered from blood loss. He had also suffered from a broken, torn heart that he swore he would never fix, not until the sky was falling and his reckoning was upon him. But that would never happen. Ros had a plan._

"Are you alright, Ros?" Link asked. Ros snapped out of his trance by shaking his head a few times and refocused on the problem at hand.

"I'm completely alright, now can we get this over with?" Ros asked, leading the way and drawing his sword. Link and Midna exchanged a glance before following the Knight in.

The cave ceiling was high above them, like a building. Behind them was the open sky and view of glorious Hyrule. To either side was a hole that could be recognized as a hallway. Both sides descended into darkness.

"Hate to see the guy that made this thing." Link murmured, looking into the blackness.

"I'll be outside if you need me," Ros announced, and left the cave. He took a deep breath in, and turned his head around like the watch he was supposed to be. His head rested on a being that came charging at him from the right. "Oh, wow," Ros yelled, causing the others to turn to him. "We've got some ugly company!"

The creature had a long, windy body that somehow supported eight legs. The monster's chest was consistently being warped in and out of view because of the hammering legs, slamming into the ground like weapon strikes. Each arm ended in a stump, where sharp metallic fingers emerged. It's mouth was the shape of a turned canoe, a beak that let loose angry squaks in a pattern. It had a bulbous head, two inset eyes of gold glaring at Ros, crown of bones and feathers dipping into the thing's vision consistently, almost as if it moved with every breath and step. The creature was a slick shade of grey, moving like a shadow on the mountain.

"Sycori!" Ros bellowed. The Sycori screeched in response, mocking his cry. Midna and Link ran out, and when seeing the beast, froze. It was obvious they had never seen one before, but Link drew his sword nonetheless.

"How do we kill that thing?" Midna asked, outstretched hands flickering with electricity.

"Hit it, that's how!" Ros growled, and waited for the shrieking beast to approach. When it came bounding over the gap, Ros could see that thing was nearly twenty feet tall. It landed with a jump, snapping at Link until the Sycori's beak came a few inches from his face. Link froze.

The Sycori stood on all legs, a tower with a face. It gazed down at Ros, who was looking up to it, and let out an ear-piercing shriek. Ros lunged at the Sycori, which was simply defending a well-carved home, and the battle began.

The Sycori fell onto Ros' sword, disarming the Knight. The beast followed up with a punch to the gut, metal claws retracting and winding Ros terribly. The Knight felt like he couldn't breathe, and turned to see Link soar past him, shoving his blade into the palm that had decided to attack. Midna launched a bolt of black magic into the air, hitting the Sycori in the beak. It looked stunned for a moment, which allowed Ros to catch his breath and dive for his sword. The Sycori turned around and launched itself at Ros, who rolled out of the way. The Sycori slammed into the side of the mountain, turning with anger at Ros. The beast charged Ros, who danced to the side and opened one of eight legs. Midna saw this and another bolt of dark lightning flew from her hands, permeating the cut and causing the Sycori to fall. It quickly tried to get up again, but was halted by Link, who leaped onto it's back. The Sycori snapped at the Hero, who ducked around the sharp beak and drove his blade into the back of the Sycori's head. The beast howled in pain, flipping. Link barely got off in time as the Sycori writhed on its back, and Ros took this as his turn to get a hit in. Ros opened the cut he made further, severing the thing's limb and being drowned in the blood. One leg lashed out at Ros and cut below his knee, causing him to stagger back and fall off the mountain. Midna acted fast, grabbing him with her hair-hand and sending force through it, forcing him back up. When he reentered Midna's view, he had his sword raised. Midna made an upside down U with her hair-hand, allowing Ros to stick the blade in the center of the Sycori's chest.

However, the thing would not die.

The Sycori took the seven remaining legs it had and grabbed at Ros. Defenseless, Ros's hands were torn off his blade and he was beaten into the side of the mountain, face first. Link rushed the beast, sticking his blade in one eye. Midna sent a disc of darkness through the Sycori's legs, severing them. Ros fell three feet to the floor, a crack very easily audible. Midna yelled at Link to move, which in turn caused the Hero to run to Ros. Midna created a long blade of darkness, glowing pinkish-purple yet the innards being completely black. She sliced the creature down the middle, halving it, before sweeping her hand and causing the pieces to fall down the side of the cliff. Link and Midna panted.

"Yeah, fine I am thanks." Ros mumbled loudly. Midna went over to Ros, and flicked open one of his eyelids.

"Concussion, I think. We had a lot, believe me when I say a _lot_, of these after Zant's takeover." Midna whispered. She forcefully closed Ros' eyes, and closed hers at the same time. A white surge went through her fingers into Ros, causing him to heave with magic. He opened his eyes, white light illuminating the rocks they were standing on to a point where it hurt to look at them.

"What the hell did you do to my brain?" Ros asked, glaring at the Twili. She smiled sarcastically.

"You're welcome." She joyfully said loudly before going into the cave. Ros tried to get up, but the cut denied him that much and he toppled onto the ground again.

"Get-"

"I'll get her." Link sighed, running into the cave.

* * *

Deep under the sea that took the place between the Western Continent of Yusthar and the Eastern Continent of Garaniv there was a trench. That trench spanned hundreds of feet wide and deep, scraping the planet's core as far as it was possible to go. At the bottom of that trench lay a mechanical contraption.

"Wake, Abyssal." The Chronographer commanded. In the depths of darkness and water, burning green eyes in the shape of a V without the bottom segment permeated the darkness. The metal contraption got to its feet, odd feeling in this water. The Abyssal simply activated a pressure pulse, scattering the matter of water away. It created a bubble around the Abyssal. A frightened fish-person urinated in the water, and the Abyssal warped over to it. A waste brick hit the ground.

"Where are we?" The Abyssal asked, metal gadgets obviously scaring the actual excretion out of this fish. The Abyssal checked it's records and determined that this was a Deep Zora, a fish person that lived within the trench. "Where are we?" The Abyssal repeated.

"R-R-R-"The Deep Zora stammered. The Abyssal grew impatient, and grabbed the Zora's head with an arm. The Zora screamed, but was quickly silenced as the Abyssal changed the shape of it's right arm to that of a blade and stuck it in the base of the Zora's neck, which went limp and floated upwards. The Abyssal watched, bored.

"Ricaes Trench," The Chronographer whispered. "Go up." The Abyssal nodded, knowing it's master could see it, and changed its limbs to that of flippers and padded upwards. When the Abyssal passed the body, it saw an animal that could be described as incredibly shark like, feeding on the arm. The Abyssal morphed it's arms to that of pulsars and blasted the animal, whose ears popped with sound. The thing swam away, and allowed the Abyssal to salvage the body. With the flippers of the Deep Zora, the Abyssal successfully augmented his own swimming contraption, trading in the flippers for a pressure pack of sorts.

"This works, Master." The Abyssal said to the Chronographer, who seemed amused.

"It'll make you go faster. Now go. We've got a _pest_ to rid of." The Chronographer uttered the word pest as if it was a curse. Taking the hint, the Abyssal surged upwards, leaving confused bubbles in it's wake.

* * *

The rotting thing walked with no purpose towards the Orden graveyard. He wore a full set of plate. If anybody had asked about his greenish-red armor, he would've killed them on the spot, contributing more to the green of the bile and to the red of the blood. The plate was originally once a shade of grey, but was now countlessly stained with the number of people the rotting thing had slain. On the thing's back hung a long staff, dark and twisted wood complimented by a green orb glowing with mal intent. On the rotting thing's hip hung a long sword, sheath the color of bloody gold. On the monster's head was a crown-helm, jagged and infuriating those who gazed at the mad shapes that made it up. The figure also had a small green and black cape that graced the ground.

When he reached the graveyard, he stopped. There were thirty graves arranged in six neat rows of five. He smelled two of them that had been recently buried, and snorted. The rotting creature raised his right hand above where a heart would be, and his hand began to glow with an eerie green light, as if he were clutching a fairy. The figure slung the ball, which soared over the graves. When it passed a row of graves, lightning the color of the orb shot out and struck the grave, kicking up dirt. When the ball reached the end of the graves, it dissipated. Grayish hands reached out of the tombs, the reanimated dead picking themselves up.

"Welcome, welcome," The rotting thing announced, arms spread open. "I am your Lichfiend, Qsthain. You may call me Q," As the last body rose up, Qsthain put his arms down. "Now, I'm unsure of what you know about fighting…" Qsthain said, walking to each zombie. "No matter. I will assist you in correcting that mistake. Come, we've a village to practice on." Qsthain beckoned to the small village of Orden at the bottom of the hill. A recently dead plump zombie and a girl that clung to him were the first there.

"The time has come, once again." Qsthain whispered, making a fist. How sweet it would be to… no, now was not the time for pleasure. Now was the time for work. He'd soon get his reward.

* * *

Maera's piece of rock landed in the middle of a field. It was endlessly green, full of flowers and life which burnt her eyes which were accustomed to darkness. She was on her knees, trying to comprehend where she was, for she had never left the cave. Her dark armor stuck out like a sore thumb against the beauty of life.

She got up, taking a deep breath in and examining the field. A long ways away there were a few hills, and she saw the spires of a structure of some kind. She began towards there, taking in the light and hating it. Why that Xul had to come, she had no clue. But she would find out, and on that day, vowed vengeance, vengeance that would cause the Winged Tyrant a painful death.

Little did she know what was watching her every breath, tracking its lunch.

* * *

In the Depths, where all creatures impure of heart traveled after death, something stirred. It sent out a pulse of energy that disintegrated everything in the vicinity, battering the very chains of the Depths.

Something was coming. It was trying to break through.

And it was angry. Furious. Ready to shatter the Depths, if such an action was required. It would be free, and it would become. _Become_. That word reverberated in the being's head. _Become_. What would it become? It decided on a shape, and sent out another pulse of energy. The being's prison in the Depths broke, black stone shattering into a trillion pieces, and one could see a dark creature chained. It roared.

Something was coming. It was trying to break through.

The creature ripped off the shackles that kept it, mind telekinetically tearing them apart. The creature didn't bother exerting itself, but roared again. This was pestering. Why should it, the strongest, most volatile creature in the Depths, be chained like an animal? It was time to break free. The wardens responded with weaponry, rushing the creature.

_Become_. The creature thought, sending another pulse. The life disintegrated, leaving only empty shells. The creature decided to stand up, and raised an arm. Even in the Overworld, one could hear the shattering of the Depths' foundation.

Something was coming. It was succeeding in breaking through.

* * *

The Chronographer felt this pulse, and froze. Sensing the tension, the Abyssal began to question its master's health. After assuring the Abyssal (though it didn't seem convinced) that he was perfectly alright, the Chronographer jumped back on his train of thought.

No… it couldn't be _that_, could it? No! The Chronographer had killed that _thing _himself. However… It couldn't hurt to check.

"Change of plans, Abyssal," The Chronographer said. The Abyssal nodded while still swimming, meaning that the machine's internal records were open for editing. "The pest will simply have to wait for later. We're going to explore a gate to the Depths," After the Chronographer finished, the Abyssal pointed down with a cock of its head. The Chronographer shook his. "Wrong depths. I'm programming the location to your map." The Abyssal nodded, and continued upwards.

It couldn't hurt to check… could it? Would the Abyssal be strong enough to take that _beast _down? The Chronographer hoped that it didn't come to that. He did not want his machine obliterated. This was the only one in existence.

* * *

After Midna had healed the cut which had severed Ros' hamstring, ("Wimp." She had called him afterwards, before gesturing to her scar.) The trio had begun to travel down the mountain. It was a steady drop, which they crossed in a few uneventful hours. When they reached the base of the mountain, however, they saw it.

Synfester. Three boats were docked, one was coming in and one was leaving. The buildings were made of an odd wood, gray and yellow in parts. They were so close to it, and all it required was a tiny walk.

They reached it by nightfall, and, after the fall of Hyrule, their adventure began as something watched from a boat.

* * *

Cliffhanger! To clarify the above, Synfester is the start of the adventure, they're not leaving quite yet. I didn't want to detail Synfester quite yet, leaving a slight aura of mystery about it. So, to anyone wondering, Synfester will be detailed in the next chapter. What do you think? Reviews are appreciated, for I tried a different structure this time.

Wish them luck. They'll need it.


	8. Chapter 6: Long Shadows

I am not dead. I think I proved this by making cover art, for one thing. I've been trudging on through this and my other story, of which I'm not posting as a fanfiction but perhaps it will actually get published, in addition to making freelance MtG blocks and an RP. Classes have also started up. I may be slow, but I get it done- and in the fashion that has hooked you for these past chapters, if you've read this far. Making you wait this long is horrible. I'll try to speed up my updates, but there are no guarantees, as the times I can write for this story in particular are varied. Anyway, let's get on to the next, probably long awaited and with good reason chapter.

**Warning: Synfester has images not suitable for most audiences. Extreme viewer discretion is advised for that section of this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Long Shadows**

* * *

Why should he be caged?

He who ruled the night and the day, contempt with keeping his position in owning life as he knew it. He who knew, he who had his way when he wanted to have it with no questions asked. He who was dethroned by the Four, the damned Four that decided he was not good enough to rule and his subjects not good enough to exist. He who was made an example of, he who's people were ripped apart to create the Lessers.

Why should he be caged?

After all that he had gone through, being caged was not even on the list of things he had to do before his life was up. On the off chance that it ended abruptly, of course. He was known to have the longest of shadows, extremely acute in the arts that gave him his brand from the Four. Branded, broken, beaten, he was all but the god he was. They left the brand over his eyes, forever marking the shapeshifter. The brand spelt the name which he had taken a dread liking to, something that brandished his shame and that he wouldn't force away until he had done the honorable thing and taken back what was his.

The brand spoke a simple word, a word which would never leave the imprint of the creature's eyes.

Geth.

Why should he, Geth, be caged?

As the shackles of the Depths were obliterated, in a flash of light that blinded every angel, the ground caved in. It fell as if broken in half, landing on cages and freeing all manner of demons. One could see, in the center of the disintegrating hell, a humanoid shape with air distortions and violently glowing eyes.

Why should the King be caged?

It was as if they thought he could. Pitiful. He would show those gods just how pitiful this creation, these Depths, would be.

And then he would take it.

Why should the Ultimate be caged like a beaten, broken toy, left with no use but to amuse and warn others that would dare go down the path that he has taken?

_Why should he be caged?!_

* * *

Synfester was not the prettiest sight to see.

Buildings were in disarray, a water wheel of gray wood at a stop. Some of the shacks were collapsed, yellow light softly burning from the wheels of standing structures. Two boats waited in the docks, swaying with the wind. The only sounds were the water.

"What happened here?" Link asked. This was nothing like he'd ever seen. There'd been evidence of a battle, said the torn down homes, but no blood, no burns, no bodies… This was the strangest town Link had ever visited. "It's like they just decided to up and leave, and take their houses with them. Check the standing structures. Shout if you find anything." Ros nodded and was off, but Midna arched an eyebrow.

"The commanding type now, are we?" She asked. Link shrugged, giving a nonchalant smile.

"While you've been gone, I've made some ah, _improvements _in my personality." Link replied. Midna did not believe it.

"Well, I'm glad that I left a lasting impression on you," She smirked. "But about that personality, are you sure it isn't because you know I'll whoop your butt again if and when the time comes?" Link frowned. During their adventure, Link and Midna had tried to compete for who was the leader. They tried (tried being the key word) to make equal fields for both of them. She had beaten him in speed (Even in his wolf form, that little floating creature had managed to beat him!), intellect ("Seriously?" Midna sighed, putting her head in her hands as Link tried to assault the shield that blocked the path. When it was her turn, Midna had simply used a bolt of shadow magic to push it out from the hole that it had opened in the wall it created. "I weakened it for you." Link growled before turning back into wolf form.), and… not that Link wanted to admit it, anything that had to with brains. He had endurance, navigation, sight, strength, and tenacity.

"I'm pretty sure, Mid. Now, go check over yonder," He waved randomly in a direction. "And I'll go check over yonder." He waved his hand in the other direction. Midna rolled her eyes.

"Sir, yes Sir." She murmured, going to the designated point. Link smiled, watching her back and his eyes fell downwards. Stopping in pure shock, he ridiculed himself.

_I did not just do that, _He thought. _I'm going nuts. _Link only thought to shrug it off, the things he just imagined bouncing off the emotional armor he had built as a self-reward for his first quest. The armor was powerful and selectively permeable, stronger and lighter than the Magic Armor, which he had disposed of personally. The costs had outweighed the benefits on that expensive and dressed-up and at the same time draining piece of metal. So he dumped it in Lake Hylia. He was sure that somewhere, at the bottom of the lake, a school of fish would be wearing his armor, the armor that he had killed Zant in.

The wreckage that made up a good quarter of Synfester was not like anything he'd seen.

The wood was the same dreary gray color as the waterwheel he had seen earlier, but more… sophisticated, for lack of a better word. What he thought was wreckage was actually just a pile of wood arranged in a neat fashion, laid upon one another to make different shapes within shapes. Startled at this, Link began moving the planks. This wasn't wreckage, this was decoration. At the center of this particular spot, something softly hissed. Link halted, slowly drawing his sword. The metallic ring drug on, but nothing seemed to respond to the sound. This time, he began moving the wood with his sword this time, but the hiss did not return. At the center, a small black orb levitated slightly off the ground before dropping with a metallic ring extremely different then the Master Sword's. This sound nearly replicated a drop of water.

On second glance, this black sphere _was _a drop of water.

It melted into the ground, before seeping like a metal liquid and disappearing from Link's sight.

"What the…" He whispered. The blob entered his sight again for a fraction of a second, before entering a house. He followed the blob inside the house, pushing the little door with a neat black spot on it lightly. Instead, it collapsed with a _Drrrndrosh_, kicking up the dust that lay within. The house was small, barely ten meters in diameter. Two tables lay adjacent at one corner, one holding a pitcher of water and the other bare. When Link turned to look the other way, he saw the bodies. They were grayed and shriveled, looking more like a dried fruit than a person. The eyes were hollow and large, mouths agape with a silent scream that never came out. Link looked up from the bodies and saw a little girl, no older than seven, looking nearly as bad as the bodies. She held a five-inch knife in her hands, pointing to the water pitcher. Her legs were curled up on the chair, hair fallen dry and mouth agape with the wordless sound and motioning to water. Link hefted the pitcher.

"Farore," Link whispered. "Are you okay?! Here, have some water! I need you to tell me what happened here!" Link urged.

He did not see the black gloop that dripped into it, too focused on helping the child.

* * *

Geth was, without a doubt, no questions asked, infuriated.

As he surged ever upwards, breaking the chains of existence that bound this place specifically made for him, repurposed to hold other 'criminals' in addition to himself, he had gathered from the bodies that this place was called the Depths. And it was clearly not doing the job it was designed to do, as it's 'star of the show' was breaking the chains to existence that the Depths held onto. The act was quite easy for Geth, actually; he had quite a few million years to practice wiping things from existence. It worked obscenely well with the little guards that had decided they'd test their will and attack him. Ridiculous little children, they should've been informed on what, who, Geth was.

Those who underestimated, or even failed to underestimate Geth, ended up dead nine out of every ten times. The one other time was usually saved for someone special. That someone came to Geth's mind as he broke another layer of the Depths. Where was she now? She was one of them. He would find her. He was not the Ultimate for nothing.

Hundreds of thousands of criminal souls tried to chase after him, ones that he decided to force downwards. The force he exerted was enough to flip a building, and it did what it was meant to do (Unlike these simply unacceptable Depths.). The first wave of souls was pushed back, rippling down the bloodline and staggering the spirits like a blockade of some kind. Geth smiled, tearing through the gate at the very ceiling of the Depths. A gaping hole was left in the middle of the obsidian.

After all, this would be his world soon. He didn't want more troubles then he already had, for if the Ultimate knew one thing, it was that people didn't change.

Nor did the Four. Well, now they were known as the Triad. He would fix this dire mistake. It would be easy.

After all, what better way was there to start a fight you intended to win without the words 'violently, smartly, bloody, quickly' in the equation? Geth intended to use all four. It seemed funny, as the Four represented themselves in dressed up versions of the words he intended to use, each a separate war on its own.

* * *

The child was shaking now, Link realized. Link followed her gaze to the pitcher, and upon realizing that it was, for some reason, black, and following the Sacred Beast's instincts, he threw it against the wall. The glass hung around the liquid, which stuck to the wall like a frightened animal. Link's fight or flight instincts had turned to fight, but the Sacred Beast, who was an animal, had chosen flight.

"Ros! Midna!" Link shouted. The child was shaking violently now.

Then the world exploded in dust as the liquid sprouted arms and threw Link, as if he was a child's toy, through one of the walls of the house. Before Link blacked out, he saw something with crimson eyes and mouth pulling itself out of the liquid, as if trapped within.

However, Link was immediately taken out of his slip into unconsciousness via the child managing a scream. He got up, shield arm roaring in protest, as the liquid pulled outwards, red-eyed beast trying to break the bonds of reality. The child scooted off of the chair and ran, as if there was no tomorrow. She barely looked like she could stand, let alone run. However, the little thing did it. Link jumped to his feet, only to see that the child ran onto the coastline and sluggishly into the water.

"Oh no." He said, eyes going wide and rushing after the kid. Dust clouded his vision, arm roaring in pain like some manner of beast as he ran. _Push_. He thought. Link had done things in terrible conditions during his quest with Midna, this was barely a scrape on the other things that had decided to test their might against him. However, if his assumptions were correct, she wouldn't be able to swim like that-

Then the water decided to pay Link a visit and all hell broke loose.

Link fell backwards, water rushing into his eyes. From the ground, he saw a tentacle of ice-like water fly up, holding a small form that was silently screaming. The tentacle flicked backwards, and then forwards, throwing the child back towards Synfester. The scream tore through the veil of his clogged ears, and animalistic instincts kicked in. The Sacred Beast forced him up, following the screaming body and then Link's mouth dropped. The Sacred Beast could do nothing but force him to run.

The thing that had caught the child was something straight out of a nightmare.

It's body was crystalline, easily allowing one to see the black water that made up the thing's innards. The shoulders of the beast were jagged, and could impale a man with ease, making a V shape around the monster's head. They curled up just before ending, and taking another look Link realized that they were _moving_. The only other feature, aside from the claws for fingers, seven long knives the size of Link's forearm, was the red gaping hole in the shape of a cartoon demon's hungry mouth on the clear head, which ended in more of the moving ice. Red eyes matched it. The knife fingers were soaked in blood.

Link watched in terror, trying desperately to get to his feet, as the claws plunged ever deeper into the child's body as the monster forced her eyes to gaze directly into crimson pools. Link finally got to his knees, and noticed the ice armor was changing colors. The child was violently shaking, starting to scream but her mouth growing ever wider. Link got to his feet, drawing his sword with his good arm. The metallic cling synced with the gulp of something. Link whirled around, murder in his eyes and saw the feet of the child hanging out of the monster's mouth, ice pulsating crimson light. The beast spit out the feet and snarled, a gesture made all too visible by the very real red fangs the size of Link's nose visible. It snorted.

_That thing's still hungry…_ The Sacred Beast cautioned, growling beside him.

"Thanks for doing your job, Captain Obvious." Link retorted, trying to reach for his shield, but his arm roared in protest.

Even more so when tentacles of crimson ice lashed into it. Link screamed, the ice that was the spikes on the horrible beast's back was now gone, however only a portion of it. The tentacles twisted, assuring the Hero that this wound would not close. Link screamed again as another section, not quite depleting the ice, pierced his sword arm and impaled him into the wall of a house. The beast advanced, eyes running up and down the prey. Then the sound of heaven on earth rang out, a battle call as sweet as any fruit.

_Bifuum._

* * *

"Midna!" Ros called out, reloading his crossbow. His armor was stained, faceplate covered in still wet blood from the bear that had appeared on the edge of Synfester. It oozed off of his faceplate, giving him a menacing appearance. _Come on, you mother…_ Ros thought, firing a bolt into the ice that entered Link. The connection severed, all Link would have to do was pull the ice out. The monster turned to him, red eyes and gaping red mouth with long fangs easily identifying it as a Tide Warden, demons that came from the water. It pulled the other block of ice out of Link's arm, and the shape of the arm changed to that of a spiked flail. "_Midna!_" Ros shouted the loudest he ever had. Where was she? Tide Wardens could not be killed by anything but magic, but could shrug off even a catapult's blow to the face. He was lucky he broke a limb, one that it probably didn't need to kill him. He decided on this explanation as the ice grew back and the black liquid grew into the socket. Ros saw something, a pale gray blotch, appear on the Warden's chest. He squinted, and then gagged.

It was not a spot. It was a _face,_ and the face of a _little girl screaming in pain and agony._

Ros fired again, crossbow making the familiar and homely sound of _Bifuum. _The bolt collided with the chest of the Tide Warden, staggering it slightly. The bright flash from the impact momentarily blinded Ros. Wait, _flash?_

The spiked flail of the Tide Warden went up, but the flash from something cut it straight off. The flail melted, and the whirling black blade flew back into Midna's hand. Her expression was confused, angry, but strangely enough happy at the same time. As the blade stopped in her hand she spoke.

"And that thing is a…" She trailed off, blade of darkness disappearing. The Tide Warden snarled, growing back the arm quicker than before.

"A Tide Warden. Rumor has it they can only be killed by magic. I've got to help Link. Ready?" Ros punctuated each sentence with a reload and a bolt into the Tide Warden, staggering it, but the beast did not appear harmed in the least. Midna gave a nod, Ros ducking out of the way as her hands began to glow. Link was on his knees, trying to pull out large chunks of ice from his arms.

Then Ros heard a roar and the world exploded in red.

* * *

Midna's glowing shadows were canceled by the Tide Warden letting out a stomach-wrenching roar and then exploding.

The Tide Warden expunged the red from whatever internal systems it had, blossoming like a crimson flower. Time seemed to slow as she watched the blood rise into the air and fall, but not before it turned like a plant to sunlight to the water. Did her eyes betray her? Was it mingling with the water?

Ultimately, she had decided yes, yes it was- for the water level was now matching the height of her ankles. For not the first time since returning to Hyrule (being forced or not), she had cursed herself for bringing thin sandals. They were swallowed by the water, meaning that when she would be able to step out of this horrible mixture they would be ruined. Great.

The rational part of Midna stopped herself. Was she worrying about _shoes _when she was supposed to be fighting a _monster _to cover for _Link?_

The Tide Warden bellowed at her, administering a challenge with such a ferocity and backed with a power she hadn't detected within this strange creature before. Now was the time to kill it, before it could dare to try anything new if at all. Her hands began to glow orange once more, tethering a pot of mana, or residue magical energies that were depleted for use of spells (shadow magic simply depleted anything it could find), and focused into the spell. Midna closed her eyes.

She heard the all too familiar crackle of a crossbow, assuming that Ros had either shot it off to buy her time or to signify that he had finished covering Link, who would now be up. Midna's hands grew increasingly warm before the glow changed it to a strange blackish-orange color, forming a globe with puzzle-piece shape glowing orange cuts. It radiated light, spinning with an increasing velocity as Midna channeled the spell. When she felt it was at optimal capacity for testing against the creature, she made a fist with one hand.

A sharp pain caused her train of thought to end and she snapped open her eyes, feeling her blood travel down from her knees where the cuts lay to the water. Unable to keep herself up without the support of the tendons that felt like they had been whipped out, she collapsed face-first into the water. The Twilight Princess turned over, survival instinct taking control, and used one hand to put two fingers in the ground. She tethered the same pot of mana, cursing as her spell had dissipated, and fired a bolt of orange flames into the ground. Her eyes momentarily rolled over and became the same tangerine color as the water around her made a circle, flames encompassing her. Midna was able to assess her wounds, in a few quick seconds, had healed them using the same spell she had used for Ros. Now on her feet, Midna grunted and attempted to figure out just what was going on.

Ros had been fighting from afar, crossbow firing the _Bifuum _sound in a repetitive, rehearsed fashion that was not unlike the way the guards in the Twilight Palace were trained to use their crossbows. Link had been backpedaling and rolling, drawing attention to himself as the frenzied, eight foot tall Tide Warden tried to relentlessly pound him into a pile of meat with hammer arms. Midna withdrew the flames, still somewhat flimsy on her feet, and converted the mana to the spell she was channeling once more. The spinning ball returned, and with her right hand she made a fist as the left one still kindled and enhanced the spell.

"Over here!" Midna cried. The Tide Warden, Ros, and Link turned to her. She punched at the spell, releasing into a palm upon contact with the ethereal ball. It flew, radiating energy as it zipped and punched a neat hole through the Tide Warden, who briefly flashed orange. The ichor that made up the innards of the demon began to spill, but not without the creature protesting. The Tide Warden ran at Midna, taking gigantic but continuously slowing steps. Midna had to react quickly, scanning for any familiar tugs of magic. She grasped the mana that her spell had given off and focused it into a shield of blue glass. It appeared as shards, floating around her in a translucent bubble format. The Tide Warden tried to pound her to nothingness, but the shield flared to life, not only rejecting the blow but actually forcing the hammers off of the shield. A sword entered the hole of the Tide Warden, and the creature turned and lifted it's arms, now scythes, in one quick motion. Out of easy to grab mana, Midna now had to tune into the forces of life itself. She drew from what would allow her to as Link rolled backwards, narrowly evading the scythes that cut at the ground. The only source that did allow her to tap into it was her own crown, which was more or less a cache of selective mana- mana which could only be used for certain sources, otherwise it wouldn't be compatible with the spell and it would fail. She quickly browsed through the available mana by feeling the energy it radiated, and made a reminder to store some more when the time came. Taking a hold on mana usually used for spells along the lines of close-quarters combat with an enemy or rage, she concentrated, limbs sharpening with a noticeable change, becoming knife-like and thin.

* * *

Geth burst through the surface, through the gate of the Depths, sending chunks of earth flying in different directions as he landed on the ground, remaining in the quite normal by now humanoid shape that we has accustomed to, especially after acknowledging the fact that his subjects knew him in this manner. Mountains stretched out behind him, roads in front of him and to his left another mountain range. Geth placed one hand on the ground, tracking any magical pulses within the area. He felt a rather distinct one across the continent, though it was far stronger then he and nearly toppled him from such a distance. Pondering what had such a magical prowess, to the point of being able to stumble the King of the Avatars from that distance, he did not notice the metallic being in front of him.

"Geth." None other than the one that had banished him, the Chronographer, spoke. Geth turned to the machine, eyes ablaze with dark fire. Literally.

"Hello, machine. Did you miss me?" Geth spat, voice echoing in the bright afternoon air. This was not the Chronographer, Geth discerned this from the six green eyes in the shape of a V (without the bottom segment). Great, so he was using a conduit. What a coward. The Chronographer made a grunt-like sound through the conduit.

"Abyssal, show this abomination why it was not able to resist us when we put it down." The machine clarified as the Abyssal nodded, arms becoming swords. The chest of the machine began to disappear, holes and little peaks holding steady against the melting. After a few seconds, a cannon of sorts took shape.

Geth did not waste any time. Strangling the nearest source of mana he could find, he formed two large discs the size of a flattened boulder underneath his arms. The cannon began to glow, but Geth launched one of the discs. It spun with a savagery that mimicked Geth, who turned the disc upwards to fan the blast. White exploded in his vision, leaving a pool of chaotic and volatile mana for his taking and filling most of his vision with white. The disc had been disintegrated from the blast, but it filtered the mana that was given off- instead of being entirely destructive, some of it had been transmogrified for basic needs. Smiling underneath his black cloak, eyes becoming a bloody amethyst, Geth launched the other disc. It connected with the Abyssal's waist, sending the construct nigh of flying. The machine actually appeared winded as the disc dug into it, sending it off the ground slighty before digging into it and forcing the machine on the ground. The Abyssal grabbed at the center of the disc, and with humanlike appendages, ripped it in half. He could feel the dark mana dripping from the gap, and tapped into all the available mana that was left from the cannon blast and from the disc and channeled it into the ground. The earth spasmed, crackling with mana as Geth created a quick tether of mana to this spot.

The Abyssal leaped at Geth, causing the King to throw himself back with a minor concussive blast that required nothing but a thought. The Abyssal clawed at nothing, now claw-like arms raking where he once stood, however the Abyssal had landed on the spot of concentrated mana. Geth tapped into it once more, power flooding him as he spent it all in one gigantic burst, earth leaping up in a maw of stone and dirt that swallowed the machine, leaping nearly forty feet in the air, dirt falling off of it like a waterfall. Smiling at his work, Geth's eyes rolled to the back of his head from the pleasure of such power running through him, before dispelling it in one fell swoop and forcing the maw down into the earth, taking the machine known as the Abyssal down with it.

"How did you like my show, Chronographer?" Geth growled. "Your death won't be as fancy." Geth's shape finished forming, as he brushed off his cloak and the heart shaped mask that forbade anyone from seeing his eyes.

His bloody, greedy, hungry, branded amethyst eyes.

* * *

The Chronographer shot the screen of his view of the Abyssal. With a smoking arm, the Chronographer lifted himself off of the throne of clocks and wrapped himself in mana. Space and time seemed to warp and bend around him as he channeled existence into himself. The mana clouded his vision, every color under the sun caressing him.

He would get his revenge.

* * *

Finally, Midna's spell began to work. The hole that she had punched through the Tide Warden sparked orange, the demon getting noticeably slower with each passing second. When it stopped completely, Midna's limbs had become fully sharpened. As Link and Ros began to take a breather, Midna sliced off the feet of the Tide Warden with one arm before stabbing it in the back with the other. When she pulled both arms out, she made an X with them and opened the foul liquid, ice armor melting and joining with the water level. Midna decided she wasn't done, growling even though none could hear her and attacked the still beast without remorse.

_Not. My. Blue. Eyed. Beast._ Midna thought, ending the thought with her body on the back of the Tide Warden, her razor arms on either side of the Tide Warden's head, before slicing. The shell of ice fell to the floor, breaking as the black ichor joined with the water. Midna leaped off of the beast, features returning to normal. Link's mouth opened with a question before she fainted, the blackness dragging her along for the ride.

* * *

The creature on the ship's interest was heightened. It seemed the Twili was a mage. Suppresing a laugh, the phantom faded from the ship, tunneling back to the Catacombs. Lord Serrux would need to hear about this one, one that quite the capacity for spells it seemed. Even her Shadow Nova had been potent enough to radiate salvageable mana, something extremely rare among mages. The only ones the phantom knew of that were remotely like this happened to be Lord Serrux and the creature that called itself Geth. Then again, the phantom didn't get out much- it's body was of a worm, after all. Maybe mages had evolved, though the likelihood was laughably low of something like that happening. The phantom paged his master.

_**Tikhas? **_Lord Serrux had accepted his page immediately.

_I've found someone you might want to learn about, Lord Serrux. _Tikhas projected. _She's young, but already can form surplus mana from spells. _Tikhas' master waited a moment.

_**Send me the details. **_Lord Serrux demanded. Tikhas complied, sending off the mana in a bubble that was greedily caught by a force that even at this distance, in the _ocean_, halted Tikhas.

His master radiated an emotion that Tikhas had become all too familiar with, something not present in most individuals.

Lord Serrux radiated a lust, not for pleasing himself from her body but devouring her very essence. Tikhas gulped, still traveling in the ground to reach the Catacombs. Sometimes, no, oftentimes Lord Serrux scared Tikhas. And Tikhas was a worm-dragon, given the title Death-Song.

* * *

Midna awoke on a ship, blurry vision sharpening swiftly. She was swaying slightly, bright sun and gulls overhead.

"Midna!" Midna sat up, turning to look behind her. Link stood there, smiling almost ear to ear. He opened his arms. "Are you okay, O Twilight Princess?" Link asked, mimicking the Sages. Midna smiled, blowing a strand of flaming hair out of her eyes.

"As okay as I'll ever be. How are we-"Midna began to ask, getting up with the help of Link (who's smile changed from happy to amused as she accidentally connected skulls with him as she stood). Link interrupted her.

"Moving?" Taking her nod as a cue to continue, Link started again. "It just… started, when you came on the ship."

"Maybe it's a thing that recognized mana," Midna looked around, and then Link nudged her and pointed slightly up. Ros was on the wheel. "You _encouraged _the ship to get off a metaphorical ass. You know, the one that you usually sit on." Ros stifled a laugh, but Link howled. Midna glared at him, biting her lip as Link's laugh was contagious.

"That was pretty fun, Ros," The Hero admitted. After locking eyes with Midna, he smirked. "But it was also pretty mean."

"For instance, would it be funny if I hung Link by his manhood from the bow?" Midna asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ros' laughter seemed to echo on the sea.

* * *

"Do you want me to kill her?" Bane asked, crouching with Xul in the brush. The Antithesis pondered this for a moment, watching the Insumnios limp.

"First, increase the poison. Then deal with her however you deem fit. I've got somewhere to be." Xul said, before simply vanishing. Bane sent a command to his virus, before letting his tail hit a stick, making the Insumnios jump.

Time for the fun part, Bane decided as he stalked.

* * *

The screams of the people of Orden were music to Qsthain's ears. People getting slaughtered by their own kin just happened to be one of the kinds of irony that the Lichfiend preyed on, and this meal was delicious. Qsthain walked in the midst of the flames and the smoke and the bodies and the blood and the zombies. A blond man approached him, wielding a sword and stepping in front of a pregnant woman. Qsthain drew from the zombie's energy and made his sword glow with darkness before impaling the blonde. His body seemed to age and skin grayed, for when the Lichfiend pulled his blade from the man he turned to the pregnant woman, mouth hungry for flesh.

Yes, today was as good a day as any.

* * *

So, what did you guys think of it? I know it was pretty short for such a long wait, but in addition to a novel I'm actually preparing another fanfiction story. I've got a plethora of new and exciting things to show you, including how magic works. For the last part with Uli, Rusl's wife, she did have the kid but was pregnant again. For practical purposes, I did just slaughter an unborn child in addition to the kids of Orden and Rusl. This story gets pretty dark at more than a few times, so if anybody is offended by that let me know and I'll start putting dark warnings in bold. And yes, the Tide Warden is the second real monster of many to come, nigh of all of them being original creations, all others being classic creatures. Anyway, next time on The Price of Freedom, the new continent will be opened up! Join us then, and prepare for a scare! *Commercial ends.*


	9. Chapter 7: Garaniv

I am so freaking excited. We are out of boring old Hyrule and into uncharted (well, at least for you) territory with new and exciting adventures! This is where the fic _really _starts, people, this is where you just have to indulge. For the first dozen or so chapters, I need to pour in the OCs- this place is huge! Reviews for this chapter are appreciated. Let's get this show on the road, ladies and gents!

P.S. Sorry this took so long again, I've been very busy for the past five or six weeks.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Garaniv**

* * *

"How long was I out?" Midna asked, head resting on the mast of the ship, watching the sky. When Midna had passed out, it had been dusk. Now the sun was almost at a zenith, she guessed it was either late morning or early afternoon. Which was easy to tell, given the fact that Ros was falling asleep at the helm. _He must have been at this all night. _Midna rationalized. Link stood cross armed a few feet away from her, pacing across the small diameter of the boat.

"Most of the morning. It looked like you were going to-Ros!" Link yelled at the sleeping Knight, his head drooping below the wheel. It snapped up, his head hitting the bottom wooden piece.

"Today's not my day." Ros yawned. Midna rolled her eyes.

"Trust me, you very well may have just jinxed it." Midna retorted. Link snorted before leaning over the side, watching the water go by.

"We have no idea where we're going, do we?" Ros asked in a groggy tone. Midna shrugged.

"I've been up for a half an hour. You were at the helm, or so I believe, all night. If anyone should know, it is you." Midna wagged her finger at Ros.

"Pardon me for not bringing a map of the ocean while trying to escape a burning city that I was sworn to protect, its princess included." Midna could feel the venom dripping off of Ros' sharper tone. Then Link, as usual, broke in.

"That's enough, you two." His head was resting on the edge, and Midna heard him in a way that he rarely spoke; as the tired, worn man that he had become from all the questing and heroics of the start, but the aftereffects must have given him anything but peace and quiet, things Link held very dear. Midna could see that he was taking this-his home, being completely ravaged by an unknown army and forced to watch-hard. Midna's empathy (a gift of the unwanted gift of the Triforce piece) could not break the veil that clouded Link's mind. The Hero shot her a dark glance at one point, as if he could feel that she was trying to give him therapy. The mind clouds darkened when he looked away. They spent the next hour in silence.

"Wait," Ros was fully awake now, looking at the sea. "If we're going to be out here Din knows how long, what are we supposed to eat?"

"Ever hear of fishing?" Link asked. Ros glared at him.

"Yes, yes I have. But I also know that deep sea fish cannot be caught with petty rods."

"Which we don't seem to have aboard, anyway," Midna came out from the trapdoor in the center of the boat. "All that's down there are dusty jars, some string, a broken sword and a skull or two." Ros blinked, but Link huffed.

"That's a random assortment." Ros commented, abandoning the wheel.

"What are you doing?" Midna asked, bewildered.

"I want to see it." Ros shrugged.

"You need to sail the boat!" Midna commanded, blocking his path.

"It's a boat, not an airship. It doesn't require constant steering." Ros growled.

"Then why did you fall asleep at the wheel?" Midna countered.

"Because who knows what's on the floor and Link had the only chair." Ros said, shooting a glance at the Hero.

"Don't bring me into this." Link's eyes were now closed, head and arms leaning on the bow.

"Mind telling your little princess to move out of the way, then?" Ros asked.

"Yes." Link replied. Midna rolled her eyes.

"Fine, go check out the basement. I'll steer the ship." Link stirred at this.

"No! I learned that the hard way; Midna steers _nothing_. New rule. Midna. Steers. _Nothing_." Link rose slowly to his feet, slightly swaying with the boat. Ros chuckled, descending the latter while Midna glared at the Hero as ascended to the wheel.

"Did I do that bad flying the bird?" She asked sarcastically. Link smiled. "Or do you just love to tease me?"

"Yes."

"Stop yessing me, yes-man! Do you understand?" With the last sentence, Midna snapped two fingers with each syllable. Link's smile grew wider.

"Y-"

"Say it and you go overboard," Midna growled. Link quieted, but not before putting his tongue through his teeth, making a childlike and devious smile. "And can you stop smiling?"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the mast." Link said in a singsong voice. Midna turned around and put her face in the mast, not hard enough to make splinters but hard enough that it hurt.

* * *

Maera looked around. She was standing in what appeared to be an arm shaped clearing, forest on one end and a sheer cliff face on the other. Dense forests covered her on either side. Checking to make sure there were no pieces missing (Sunlight was fatal to Insumnios), Maera paced around the clearing.

After she finished, a realization came to her. What the _hell _was she supposed to do now?

The cliff dropped into a small patch of forest, before ending near a town and roads. She was on a sheer forest _on a mountain_, in a clearing like fungus in between one's fingers. The only way would be to progress through the forest, but…

Where did her sword get to? If she was without a sword, keeping in mind that there could be more than one danger with the possibility of being fatal in the surrounding area, she would be no more than mincemeat. If her mediocre spells didn't fire, she would be out of luck. And if they didn't hit, well, then it would be just as bad as if it didn't fire.

Too many ifs. She was a soldier, a Captain, and that was far too many chances that she could take, far too many possibilities and chances of death. Chances that she wouldn't-couldn't-take.

Perhaps it was time to scale the cliff, after all, Maera thought, just before something rustled in the brush.

Fantastic.

* * *

Ros thought himself insane for a long while.

Since the Battle (Although he had convinced most of himself it was a massacre) of Hyrule, he had been hearing these strange, dominant whispers that took control of his thoughts. After the pacification they started, but were magnified tenfold, still incomprehensible to him. Sometimes he would even see flickers of a green haired knight and more rarely a dragon the size of the boat flying alongside it. Was he going insane? The day was getting ever longer, they had caught lunch and dinner on the open seas (Midna's magic was useful for something more than pointing at things or killing, it seemed).

Now he was back down in the "basement" deck, examining once again what he had seen. The room was a rectangle, two shelves of dusty wood hanging on the sides, two shelves carved into the far wall. It was atrociously dusty, cobwebs and other items hanging on the ceiling. No light came from the dark sky, barely a star twinkled. The jars were about a foot and a half tall each, with seven inches in diameter. Only four were placed on each separate shelf, and only on the ones on the side. On the far wall, by the right corner, a silver sword lay protecting a skull with many dents in it. On the shelves in that wall, another skull resided, but so did a few old small bottles (the smallest the size of Ros's forefinger, the largest his entire finger) and even some books so dusty they appeared to be naturally grey. Ros ran a hand over the string Midna had mentioned. It was a pale white, however was easily traceable as it seemed to pulsate blue. It hummed softly.

"Best watch out for that. By the time you reach your destination, you might be dead. Well, as long as that thing's aboard." An unfamiliar voice said aloud. Ros grabbed the sword from the shelf and whirled around, coming face-to-face with… Er, with not a face. The creature had caught the blade of the sword between two sections of metal.

"Who are you?" Ros asked, eyes not leaving the thing. The faceless creature's chest heaved and sound came out, and Ros assumed it was laughing.

"Ask Midna. Describe me, and she will tell you." The creature, Ros discerned from its voice that it was a machine of some kind, halted, as if to watch Ros bask in its glory.

"And why have you come?" Ros asked, voice small. "The others are bound to be asleep by now."

"Because I want to talk to _yo_u_, _small one. They had their fun, and now it's your turn, your time to shine. And I want to be your… Ah, benefactor." The machine spoke "Benefactor" slowly, as if testing if this was the right definition.

"I'm listening." Ros drew the sword back.

"You see, in order for me to do that, however, we must strike a deal." The machine crossed limbs that could count as arms.

"What kind of deal?" Ros never sheathed his sword. This machine had a way with words, he would admit, but trust was not something he handed out easily. He didn't even fully trust Link or Midna yet, but he was getting there. This thing he had no clue where the machine's loyalties would lie, even if it knew such a concept as loyalty. He had his doubts.

"You and I will have a series of meetings, mostly I coming to you, if not we meet at a location, where I will designate an item or something along those lines you will fetch for me. You will be paid a hefty sum, in money and in weaponry, for your troubles."

"Are you saying you want me to play fetch? For someone I don't even know the name of?" Ros growled. The machine tilted it's head to one side.

"Fine, I'll tell you who I am, not that it matters. The Chronographer, mapper of the uncharted expanse of Time, at your service." Was this machine being sarcastic? It sounded like it to Ros, who growled like a wild animal. The Chronographer stopped suddenly. "What, not good enough for you?"

"Let's get something straight first," Ros brought the blade back to the Chronographer's neck with such a speed that made the machine snap up. "I. Am. Not. Your. Pet," Ros' expression got darker with each word. "And you will not treat me as such." The last word was spoken as a whisper.

"Deal." The Chronographer extended an arm as Ros sheathed his sword. The Knight took a good look into the featureless face of the Chronographer before firmly grasping and shaking his hand.

* * *

Wait, was that thing _losing skin? _Maera did a double take as she analyzed the beast coming out of the bushes. It was large, with five fingered hands and patches of dark fur and skin drooping off of it. Maera nearly gagged, narrowing her eyes to get a better look at the creature.

And then it leaped.

Meara ducked under the large creature, smelling the death that it radiated, and delivered a swift kick to one leg. The thing's head snapped back, showcasing a large maw of teeth. It growled, lunging at her again. Maera sidestepped the maw before hitting an ear with a swift punch, immediately following up with another punch to the midsection and grabbing of the tail. When both hands wrapped around it, she snapped the bone. The creature howled, and, as if it had casted a spell, she felt a wound open in her back and was sent sprawling forward, light armor barely saving her from commencing in a roll that would've dropped her off the cliff.

Did this thing have any idea it was fighting an Insumnios, masters of hand to hand combat? Probably not.

But Maera didn't care. It initiated the fight, and therefore she would kill it.

Her thoughts were cut off by a bolt of pain soaring up her back, the cut from some sort of spell taking effect. She heard the creature's growl. All she could think of was the fact that she was dying now, too, after watching everyone else.

_What a fitting end._

The creature leaped again, ready to kill her, when the world flashed. The creature was turned mid-jump, force upheaving the ground which the beast tore into. It coughed, spitting up the worms it had almost swallowed, and then turned to Maera. Maera turned around and gasped.

"Wh…wha…" She couldn't even begin to describe the strange beast that hovered before her.

The creature was gigantic, the size twenty or more of her. Being by the ledge of the cliff gave her no better judgment of the beast's size. The skin of the monster was a crystalline red, radiating an almost _hungry _energy. The torso was shaped like an oddly mangled X. From the sides of the X grew crystalline arms almost like hers, but ended in a sharp fork. In between the forks hovered nearly half a dozen blades. They all hummed with an orange energy that unnerved Maera. It had no legs, only a cloud of pink. She could swear that it smelt like blood. The cloud shifted, revealing blades before sinking them back. On the center of the X was a large face with fangs and no eyes. It looked almost like a human, if what she read in books was true. It was yelling with a pure hatred, a silent scream. She knew this was anger it was expressing by looking upwards, where two gigantic red orbs (they looked almost exactly like Insumnios eyes) were glaring at the thing that had decided to fight with her. The creature ignored her.

"Kill it." A voice rang out. However, before the monster could spew fire all over the rotting creature, before Maera could see it, the rotting thing was gone. The creature turned it's fel gaze to her and drew back an arm.

"What?" She whispered. Hadn't the thing just tried to save her?

"Not that one. Leave whoever that is alone, Adkursag," Maera blinked. Adkursag, where had she heard that name before? And who was talking? Maera looked around, and then spotted a humanoid figure on a ledge a quarter mile away. He was panting. "Hello, ma'am? Are you alright?" Maera had decided that he was speaking through the… well, whatever the floating giant was. Maera turned and watched it as it looked over her entire frame, resting on certain areas. It emitted a low growl. When Maera turned back around, the man was in front of her. She yelped and jumped nearly a foot back, just before the pink mist of Adkursag. She heard a humming sound come from the giant, and began to slowly walk towards the man.

He was human, of that Maera had no doubt. She had seen paintings from the Elders before the Insumnios were driven into the dark. His jaw was hard and sharp, dragging her eyes to his bluish grey ones. On his eye whites were blue lines that seemed to glow with an ethereal light. His pupils were a rocky grey color, not like the black that the Elders had painted. His nose was sharp and pronounced, scars crisscrossing it like some sort of decoration. He had a thin mouth line, where a cut reached from below his left eye to his neck. His hair was a dark grey with little white, old but still powerful. He was wearing red leather armor, no part of his body aside from his head wasn't covered by the crimson color. Two swords dangled on his back, and a dagger at his side. Pouches hung from his waist, and Maera smelt… something from them. It was a weird smell, almost like rocks but mixed with the tang of blood.

"Can you understand me?" The man asked. To Maera, it came out as "_Anc you dersnuda me?_" Maera squinted at him, her head almost bumping him in the face. What was he saying?

"Here, let me fix this little language barrier…" The man whispered, and something gold sparked from his left hand. Maera watched in amazement as the gold spark lifted itself in between the two of them, and a net surrounded them. It crackled with electricity and white light. She looked at it in horror, then at the man. "Can you understand me?"

It came out clearly.

* * *

Underneath the crust of the world, there lay a desert that spanned the continent of Garaniv. Violet sand shrieked with anger and rage as it hammered on the crust of the world. Spirits of the long and of the lost wandered the landscape, mapping it with ethereal eyes and rotted minds while avoiding the downright monstrous things that roamed the landscape. Giant wurms with the faces of men that had the wings of dragons dominated the skies were the least of the spirits' worries.

All searched for one thing in particular, one thing that each and every creature that populated these hellish sands died looking for.

Turok, the Avatar of Decay.

However, they did not know him to be an avatar. Legends had it that a giant wurm slept underneath the sands of the dead, legends that said this wurm could destroy all life, and would end all life with a simple word of command. Foolish men seeking to kill their rivals but too cowardly to attempt at their life to their faces came looking for Turok, who would end them all by simply thinking about it. So they ventured.

And they died. But by death, by not ascending into Ovara or descending into the Depths, they knew they were getting closer. And that excited them. Some souls had traveled these sands in their entirety nearly twenty times. Always, nothing was found.

Until the day that Courage and Wisdom's boat hit the coast of the crust, the coast of what was this landscape's sky.

The sands shook with a loud growl, which resonated into a roar that shook the skies.

How dare they tread here! Here, the land which they had once conquered. Here, the land which he had laid claim to!

No, Turok would not stand for that. Turok would wake, and when he did, they would die. Glorious decay would come once again to the Tyrants! His realm sung of decay, and the deaths that it would cause.

Glorious decay!

* * *

"You've failed me twice now, Bane," Xul sighed. "And here I trusted you with key components." Bane whimpered. The cavern was dark, and Azzonoth and Mrathil were hunting. Now was not the time to summon a castle, after all.

"M-master, I-I-" Bane was trembling.

"Stop. I won't kill you, this time. I believe in third chances." Xul whispered. Bane picked his head up and wagged his tail.

"Th-thank you, mas-master. Te-tell me what to do and I-I'll do it. I won't fail!" Bane grew more confident with each sentence. Xul smiled.

"We will wait for the others to return. And then, we will go over our orders of business. We all have much to discuss for the coming days."

* * *

On the west coast of Yusthar, a tall man in red and green armor and a dark blue cloak walked onto a ship filled with workers. He nudged past them, into the captain's quarters. Rotting flesh drooped from the crew members, the bodies of the previous ones already afloat on the sea. Normally, it would have smelt like blood and rotting flesh, but a simple defense net took care of that.

Qsthain smiled. All was according to plan.

* * *

Link nearly toppled off of the boat when the earthquake shook the ship. Ros caught him, and the harbor, being not so lucky, lost almost half of its foundation. In the violent shaking, a _word _in white flashed across Link's vision.

_**Awakening**_

Something was awakening. Something that would start a chain of events that would span most of Link's life. He wasn't sure how, but he just _knew. Something_ was awakening. Then the shaking stopped, as if nothing had happened.

Something that would not stop until he killed it or it killed him. Link growled at the thought, the Sacred Beast shoving it out of his mind. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned his head to see Midna staring at him with a raised eyebrow. He smiled.

"I'm fine. Now, what do you say we get off of this ship?" Link asked.

"I agree, thanks. Not that the shaking didn't make me puke or anything." Ros said from behind Link. Link turned around and saw the Knight rubbing his temples. A white-green splotch was on the space in front of him.

"Getting seasick?" Link asked with a wolfish grin. Ros' eyes said that he wasn't in a mood to have fun, he had to get off of this ship. Link laughed for a moment, and then his eyes began to wander around.

They had all but hit a harbor, the warped wood creating an indentation where their ship had made contact with the harbor. Wood branched off of stone walls and floors, supported by thick pillars. The dusty grey color, wet with water, shone in the midday sun. Bales of hay and wood lay in piles in corners. The wall in front of them had six thick indentations the shape of a thick U with a closed line at the bottom. Nothing appeared to be in them. The harbor wasn't particularly busy, but Link's improved senses told him that there was a town behind this place. He could smell it. In fact, this was part of the town.

"How-how-can-can-this-this-unit-unit-assist-assist-you-you?" A voice came from below. Link leaned over the edge, followed by Ros and Midna, and saw a strange creature.

It looked like a man, but didn't smell right or look it. He was tall, nearly eight feet by Link's guess, but was just plain demented. Firstly, gears stuck out of skin the color of dust, little shards of gold in the grey. Four gears stuck out like a crown around the head of the man-thing, almost glowing in the sun. The eyes on the man-thing seemed to be nonexistent, only holes which gave way to more clinking gears. A thin mouth line opened up the same way as the eyes. The man-thing wore golden armor on his legs and feet, and Link felt that the armor didn't slow this creature down. A plain shirt of brown wool stretched over the giant's frame, exaggerating the gears and muscles underneath. The golem (or at least Link thought it was a golem, from the gears sticking out of it) repeated the inquiry. Link spoke up.

"We have no cargo, and are in need of shelter until dawn. Where can we find an inn?" Link avoided the clear question going through their minds at that point: _What are you?_ The man-thing turned the crowned head to the side like an animal, then snapped it up quick enough to make Ros jump.

"Proceed-proceed-to-to-Processing-Processing." The golem responded, and then raised a palm to the ship.

"What are y-" Midna began, but cut herself off.

The golem's hand pulsated green, and the wood around the ship began to change. The wood on the bow began to take itself apart and form a step-like formation down to the harbor. Ros and Link gaped as they watched the wood stick together, like pieces of a puzzle. In a matter of seconds, the wood had constructed a staircase that would take a craftsman at least a month to put into a building. Midna wasn't gaping, but if her eyes were any wider they would have been able to roll out of her head.

"Proceed-proceed-to-to-Processing-Processing." The golem repeated. Link wordlessly put a foot on the steps, followed by another, until he had descended the staircase (full of curiosity, however. Midna had called him a "cat-killer"). Midna and Ros followed suit.

The harbor was mostly quiet, aside from a few of the similar golems and some small animals. The threesome progressed through a small tunnel before coming out into a large town.

The town was in a rectangle-like box of stone walls, the largest buildings coming not halfway up the walls. Everything was a monotonous grey color, save for the sky and a large gate the color of Midna's garment on the far wall. Golems stood tall at each corner, watching the paupers and the thugs with a keen eye. The sun took a watercolor visage in this place, turning a few areas of the walls white. The trio looked around with an interest that resembled that of a small child's.

Something took root in Link's mind. PROCESSING, it imprinted, and made his vision cloudy. Link choked for a moment before the smoke cleared and gave way towards a building. PROCESSING flashed over it again, in vivid green.

The building was tall, shaped like an A with two upper areas instead of one, and a third jutting from in between the first. There was nothing exceptional to note about this building, making Link frown. He enjoyed the new and the exciting. As he walked in the direction of the building, he heard derogatory comments come at them from the streets, most about Midna. He felt the air change around him, and quickly put together that Midna would blow a hole in this place if that continued.

"Just ignore them." He heard Ros whisper. Midna whirled on him.

"Just ignore them? _Just ignore them?! _Ros, do you have any idea whatsoever about what they are calling me?" Midna was going to burst.

"Midna, ca-" Link was interrupted by Midna turning to him, eyes alight.

"I will not allow this to continue." Midna whispered. Link looked into her eyes for a long moment, penetrating her flames and saw the despair behind them. The confusion. The hatred. The hatred that had shaped her, his dear friend. They were still calling her the names, advancing on the street. The guards had turned a blind eye. Midna began to relax when one of the thugs hit her in the back with a mace. At the flash of Twili blood, the same mindless rage that overcame him when Ganon emerged from smoke ate him again.

"You son of a bitch!" Link roared, charging the man. The man was almost as tall a guard, bald and worn looking. He wore leather armor and a steel, spiked mace on his hip, which he was raising to swing at Link. Link swerved around the blow and sliced at the man's arm, cutting it off just after the elbow. Blood spurted from it, and the cry resounded multiple times as Link saw Ros slice two of the thugs at the neck. The thug picked up his mace with his other hand, and swung it again at Link (far slower this time), but the air suddenly heated up intensely and the thug's limbs suddenly went flying as a ball of black and violet impacted him in the chest. Link looked down, and saw Midna, her hands covered in blood, pointing an outstretched hand at the thug. Her eyes were wide with wonder. The fight in the street stopped as they saw the thug's body fly away.

"Wow," Midna whispered, watching the parts sore over the walls. "He sure went far." Link looked at her and opened his mouth and was about to reprimand her for a messy kill, but stopped himself. The fight resumed behind Link, Ros taking out one thug with a blade to the jaw but another was creeping up behind him. Link was poised to prey on him, but an arrow struck the thug in the center of the chest. The thug choked for air, grappling at the arrow which stained his brown armor red. The arrow hummed once, and the thug dropped. Not like a sack, but like the rock did when Midna dropped it into Zora's Domain on their first adventure. Link traced the source and saw a figure crouched in white holding a strung bow. Ros hit the butt of his sword in the final thug's face while Link helped Midna up, and another arrow buried itself into the neck of the last foe. Link made sure that Midna had her balance before turning to the hooded figure on the nearby rooftop.

"You up there!" Link called. The figure seemed taken aback, sheathing his or her bow. "Thank you!" The figure shrugged, and made a running leap off of the roof. Ros was about to protest when he saw just how strangely graceful the figure landed. The archer turned on his or her hips, giving Link and co. a view of _her _face.

Their helper was an elf, Link discerned. Or human with long ears, like he. She had straight blond-midnight blue hair and was tanned enough to make her skin look almost yellow. Her eyes were a green so vivid Link thought he could feel the green (he prayed to Farore he couldn't, because that meant his mind was leaking), twinkling with amusement. She had an inflated mouth that was curved into a smile. Their helper's ears looked like Links, but were smaller and sharper. Her build was muscular but slight, and from the way she moved, the elf looked like she was a trained killer. Her robes and armor were a dusty white, intricate lines traced throughout them. She wore no helmet, only a hood and scarf of a blood-stained white.

"I'll take it you three are new here?" She asked, but then became distracted with something behind Link. Her eyes focused so intently on the object that Link had to turn around, and caught Midna biting her lip. "She's hurt." The elf said. Midna laughed, one hand behind her back.

"Me? Hurt? By a mace? Please, this is nothing. Link, you should know me better than that. _Ros!" _Ros had put a hand to her back which evoked this snap, on the center of her wound. Midna winced when Ros drew his hand back, full of orange blood.

"Yes, you, hurt by a mace," Ros responded. Then he turned to the hooded stranger. "May I ask your name?" The elf smiled.

"Kalyssa," The elf, Kalyssa, pointed to Midna. "Shouldn't you be asking me where an infirmary is so that you can escort your friend there?" Midna rolled her eyes.

"I can barely tell the buildings apart, much less which one is Processing and which one is a hospital." Link put his hand on Midna's shoulder and squeezed gently.

Then the world grew dark with traces of orange, and Link passed out.

* * *

Within Link's bloodstream, however, things were far more nefarious.

The cell had taken another, and another, and another into clutches of cold death. The cell now swam in a pocket within Link, devouring the bright hues of red and turning them into deep notes of black and sour crescendos of orange.

It was growing.

* * *

Lachio Giarukvi was a dying man.

He was a traditional Garanivian (hence the traditional name) that was nothing short of rich. He was in bed in his estate near the mountains, a sprawling mansion that covered nearly a mile of the area. He was surrounded by mind healers, meant to mend the wounds of his acknowledgement of death and to give him a peaceful one, the dozen of them creating a circle around his bed. Lachio would have periods of blackness, feeling nothing but mind-numbing cold, before shortly being brought back into the realm of the living.

Inside his manse, a shadow lurked.

The shadow walked through the bronze stone halls, gazing with intent at the marble pillars. This would make a suitable home, it decided. However, it's taste lied with caverns.

And then again, the doors with a glowing blue light allured the shadow. Was the target in there?

A dozen dead mind healers later, the shadow cackled over the target, robes and dagger stained red. The old man's eyes widened.

"Rovas?" He whispered. The shadow smiled.

"Let us see, what can I do with this knife… Ah, yes, this." Rovas laughed as he combined dagger with molten rock (suspending the magma in the shape of the knife, of course) and plunged it into Lachio's heart.

* * *

Interesting chapter, eh? And Halo 4 recently came out. You can expect something from me when the trilogy (perhaps not) is finished!

On another note, some pronunciation things that you should know:

Kalyssa: Cay-li-sa

Rovas: Roi-vis

Turok: Tiv-ur-oc


	10. Chapter 8: Tides of Fate

Well, it's about four or so months late, but I finally got it done. Funny, huh? Life has gotten the best of me as of late. But, after taking a somewhat long break, I'm back. In whatever color.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Tides of Fate**

* * *

This was not a position the Slayer liked to be in.

He had woken up about three and a half kilometers from where he fell asleep. The ditch was dark, few bits of sun hitting his mostly naked body. _Naked? _He realized. They- the Arigoki, by the smell- had stolen his armor. With his legs over his face, the Slayer kicked open the dirt cover, revealing his eight foot tall frame. Dirt erupted like a volcano as he rose out of the ditch, groaning in the afternoon sun.

The Arigoki sitting at the nearby tent soiled the Slayer's armor (which he was wearing).

* * *

The Mirasho Mountain Range was in no way small. The highest mountain (Delaras, standing at a mind-boggling four-hundred _miles_ high.) stuck out like a tower of red rock on the landscape, demanding respect. During some hours of the day, the sun would be blocked out by the red giant. On this side of the mountain, it resulted in a much longer night.

Which, in hindsight, was probably why the vampire

_(That thing is a she yes she is a she and I will kill her all the same)_

had hidden here. Of course, she was not safe from the Reaver.

_(Hide they cannot nobody can hide)_

Had the bitch been a tad more clever, maybe the Reaver wouldn't have tracked it this far. The stars had been merciful these past weeks. She had chased the vampire nearly over the entire continent- not that she had had any other place to run. Now they were in the small patch of Garaniv were the Cataclysm had first hit- when the… the _thing _literally ripped the ground apart and summoned the dead. Here they were, just over the site of the first major event that nearly destroyed the planet.

They were facing the vile Catacombs of Serrux, or the Overlord, or the Reaper, or the Graveking… the names went on. _Serrux_, in the Eld Tongue, meant _conqueror, _or was an adjective meaning _ruthless and dominant_- all of which Serrux had been. But he had been sealed here.

For being an undead herself, the Reaver still felt a chill looking upon the mouth of that cavern- which sucked in all light in this blizzard. The Reaver's armor clinked as she approached the cave the vampire had fled into

_(Hide she cannot she will not hide she will die)_

, her hood hardly holding up against the blizzard that raged around her. She felt no cold, but, after all, she was not a fan of the snow. Nor had she been when she was alive.

_(Forget the old life the new life is death thine job is death we deal only death)_

The cave was dark- incredibly so. The blizzard seemed muted when she stepped inside- not a protection spell nor a muffler- for she heard her sword's metal ring (which sounded akin to a deep musical note being held) and her armor.

"You have his soul." She called out to the cavern, detecting a magical flare, which was essentially something trying to reach out to her but being quickly suppressed. She was answered by a hiss.

"He knew not what he did, Erasa. I took it as a price for what he had done." Erasa's theoretical heart had skipped a beat. She had known that Marcus frequented brothels, but not _vampire_-infested brothels.

"Let me guess. My husband raped you like a drunk?" Erasa spat.

_(Kill we shall kill there shall be blood shed tonight kill we shall kill)_

She could hear the surprised blink in the vampire's voice. "Yes."

"Then he did something good. Your soul shall be _my _prize, bitch." Erasa growled, delving into the Undeath. The massive, disturbing conscious responded to her plea by cutting the darkness away- giving her a clear path.

"We can be friends, Erasa. Two undead, trying to get by in the world. Come, we're both women now, aren't we?" Erasa marched forward, coming across the vampire at the end of the Bloodstone tunnels. The vampire was nearly a foot and a half taller than Erasa, with the torso of a woman. However, the vampire was no longer a woman- she had revealed her true self. Her head was that of a black-scaled serpent, hissing at her with such force that spit hit Erasa on her face. The eyes of the serpent were about the size of a fingernail, bright orange against black. The vampire's arms, from her shoulders, became sick black spikes dripping with a veritable toxin. Blood the color of the stone had been stained into it. Instead of a woman's legs, there were great crow's feet. On her back, orange wings with closely-knitted spikes hooked her to the wall.

"You made that mistake when you took his soul." Erasa cocked her head, speaking softly. The vampire hissed again.

"Child, do you not listen?" The vampire's large figure dropped in front of her. "He was simply a male. There are plenty of prey to pick." The vampire put a claw lovingly to Erasa's cheek. That was when Erasa finally broke, shoving the claw away.

"_Simply a male? Plenty of prey? _Mother, I _loved _him!" Few tears streamed down Erasa's cheek. "And you say it like it is nothing!" Erasa's mother's face darkened.

"You know what he did. Why he had to pay for it. Nobody ever gets away without payment."

_(Kill her we shall kill her my precious kill take your blade and kill her I am here I will prevent her I am here)_

The Undeath was shockingly trying to make her feel better. Then her mother growled, and time grew slow for Erasa.

Her mother leaped into the air, a giant snake-thing, arms crossed in a deadly X. The Undeath forcibly controlled her body, unsheathing her black-gold sword and twirling it with a finger. Her mother let out a cry of a Feral- an Undead that has forgotten their soul- as Erasa's hand gripped the blade and stuck it out like a spear for her mother to land on. The womanly flesh of her torso ripped apart in a bloody mess, flesh covering the other edge of Erasa's sword. Her mother's head lurched forward, trying with the last insane breaths it had to kill Erasa. Then the Undeath commanded a stance from her, and the blade expunged a putrid purple energy- one that lit the cavern in an eerie glow as Erasa's mother was Reaped- her body and soul had been converted into a form the Undeath could process. When the process ended, Erasa collapsed in the black ashes of her mother.

Her husband-Arturo-had been a ditz. He would come home drunk some nights, a soldier from the barracks, and she would tuck him into bed. But that was one of the reasons she loved him- sometimes, he was so… _innocent_ that Erasa felt more like a mother than a wife.

Which reminded her- where was his soul?

* * *

"Diagnostic, Doctor?" Xul asked Mrathil as the Hidden examined the wound. In the takeover of Hyrule, Xul had been poisoned- something that he did not favor. It burnt at random intervals. The Antithesis hated nothing more than chaos in his day-to-day conquering. Mrathil's face was unreadable behind his mother's mask.

"It seems to be relatively similar in chemical structure to your little pet's (Bane, sitting at Xul's side, growled at Mrathil) venom. It could be the exact same. How did you create his poison?" Mrathil asked. Xul could feel the quizzical eyebrow behind the mask.

"The Insumnios. A natural venom from their bowels. I had an abundance after the battle of Seros Vol- their capital and main home. It reinforced Bane's kiddies." Xul examined the wound himself, petting Bane. The Kersala moved his head towards his master.

"Well, no species can eat venom, which means we probably need a digestive fluid. But you killed the last Insumnios." Mrathil concluded. Xul shook his head, cursing himself.

"One escaped. Damn the Archons, I _knew _I should have killed her!" Xul roared, sending the Prince and the Abomination staggering backwards as Xul's towering form sent a shockwave of frustration.

"Calm down," Mrathil shouted as the shock wave disappeared and the mini-quake stopped. "I'm sure we can track her, somehow."

"Or maybe there's another way." Azzonoth returned from the outside world. It was raining hard, creating mud and lightning like they were going out of style. The quartet had hollowed the cave more, and it became a complex of sorts. After the main entry was a large open room, followed by two sleeping quarters (One for Mrathil and Azzonoth, the size of a normal living room, and one for Bane and Xul- the size of a house due to Xul's laughably large size). He carried two large deer over one shoulder and a boar over another. Tossing a deer to Bane, who eagerly caught it, Azzonoth laid the food on the floor.

"How so?" Mrathil asked.

"Think of Bane's infectee," Azzonoth gestured to the Kersala-who was already gouging the deer. "By now, the poison should've spread to the stomach- meaning not only will he begin truly feeling it, but he cannot digest it- meaning that instead of choking him, in all likeliness, it will mingle with his digestive fluid." Azzonoth smirked.

"A half-breed," Xul looked upwards, thinking for a long moment, before smiling. "This will make killing him all the more an accomplishment."

"He used to be your Purgatory, no?" Mrathil asked. Xul turned sharply to look at him. "The Queen imprisoned you there- in his shadow. You broke out a few times, no?" Mrathil raised a hand to a nonexistent chin. Xul nodded.

"I used to only be able to move when he moved. Kill when he killed. But now that I've broken free, I swear, by whatever gods truly exist, I'll kill him."

* * *

After refitting his armor, the Slayer hefted his five and a half foot long greatsword from the Arigoki's body. Blood and leather sprayed the ground as an artery popped in the rotting bandit. The Slayer wet his right fingers with the blood of the Arigoki and drew this symbol in the ground:

{ -\ /|\ /-}

{ -\ | | / -}

It was simple, really. In the Eld Speech, this was the symbol for "Demons this way walk." Or, to put it in modern terms: "If you come this way, an example is provided." The Slayer was done with taking the Arigoki. The next time he saw an encampment, he decided, he would obliterate it. As he strapped on the last bits of plate, he was aware of a duo of figures moving on his rear. They did not seem hostile, by the slow speed of their movement, but they were wary.

Then again, who wouldn't be wary of an eight foot tall warrior outfitting himself with a bloody greatsword? But after a moment, they approached him. The Slayer did not heft his large chunk of metal, merely turned around fast enough to make a tree branch snap. He saw two figures standing there, petrified.

One was a woman. She wore dark black armor with a slab of glass-ish material over her face. Only orange eyes were visible. A sword hung at her hip. The man next to her was graying, wearing crimson leather armor with pouches on belts over his body. He had two swords- mayhap three- and at least one dagger. His sharp eyes were unnatural- grey pupils and literally oozing raw mana (The Slayer had learned to detect mana in its various forms from a young age, in order to be proficient in the countering of beasts that utilized different arcane arts. For instance, the mana dripping from this man was Barren mana- it could not create, only absorb or destroy. Barren mana was mostly used in specialized spells of destruction. Whether they create a mediocre fireball that could still blast a man apart or a gale of fire able to strip the stone of a wall, Barren mana was entirely fire-centric.

Which explained his crimson armor.

"Names." The Slayer demanded, peering at both of the figures and giving a small mental assessment. Should they turn hostile, he decided he'd cleave the mage in half first. He was also the first to speak up.

"I am Turaan Osiook of the Graylands, Cindermage and summoner." The woman looked to him with confusion, and when Turaan nodded, she spoke her name.

"Captain Maera Fiesthey of the Insumnios Royal Military." The Slayer nearly gasped. An _Insumnios? _They were, in short, dark elves: A legendary sight to see one out of a cave. The Slayer stuck out his hand (which was nearly three feet long). He treasured every soft spoken word of the Insumnios. To hear of one's existence outside a cave was one thing, to _see and hear one with your own eyes _was another.

"Slayer Avnos Kelon, knight of the Hunt." The Slayer bowed. Both Maera and Turaan were surprised- this was not a barbarian, but a _knight. _Trained to _kill DEMONS. _Turaan looked quizzical for a moment.

"If you are truly a knight, then are you not heading to the Epicalas?" The Cindermage gestured toward the city revolving around a large black tower in the distance. An entire city literally was built around the giant stone monument. It was the headquarters for all the major operations this side of the planet. Anyone who had any sort of influence had been to the Epicalas. Avnos followed his gaze then nodded. 'We are all travelers here- how about we help one another and journey to the Epicalas together?" Turaan asked. Maera nodded quickly, smiling beneath her helmet. Avnos simply started walking.

* * *

In the rubble of Seros Vol, many- including the Allmother- had fallen. Bodies of both sides covered the floor like dust. The castle crumbled behind the corpses. However, one amongst these dead was not fully, clinically dead.

A black hand reached out from a pile of corpses nearly thirty feet high. A burst of willpower sent the corpses flying like a hurricane as a completely black figure arose from the ground.

Savos Fiesthey, or the Shade, had brought himself back to life.

* * *

This was what it must feel like to die, Link thought.

He could feel nothing. Taste, sight, smell- all senses and abilities were deactivated save for his ability to think. He knew he was dead- he felt it in his heart. It had stopped beating.

Was death truly an inescapable, cold void? Was there no after-

Link's thoughts were cut off as a visual faded in- A large cave, with a masked man looking at him. It was stupidly dark, but he could see like it was broad daylight. He was speechless. The purple heart-shaped mask seemed… _familiar. _

"You and he are connected, somehow," The mask spoke. "It's likely that it was because he was your Purgatory."

"Are you saying he's inside my head?" The voice from the Massacre of Hyrule growled. Link shook violently. That voice chilled him to the core. "Now?" The masked man nodded.

"Try contacting him."

"If you say so…" The beast was wary, but the vision faded. A sense of awareness and nakedness washed over Link. A deep blue light bathed him.

"_**Ah, there you are,**_" the beast growled. "_**Human, I come for thee. Prepare yourself accordingly. I want a fight, not one overpowering the other. Be prepared to die.**_" Link gulped.

"Tell me something!" In a burst, Link regained his voice, his courage, his… humanity. "Who-what-are you?" The presence seemed amused, before shouting.

"_**I am Xul! Antithesis of the Archons, Lord of the Hollowed! You and I have come to blows before. Now, I am my own. Prepare yourself!**_" Xul then cut the connection and Link woke up-

In a hospital bed.

* * *

"I have something I need to attend to." Mrathil said, grabbing his robes. Xul cocked his head.

"What?" He asked. Mrathil smiled.

"A contact. I need to… ah, inform them of something." With that, Mrathil crushed a Traveler's Orb and disappeared in a blue flash. Xul summoned Bane (who appeared at his side in white smoke, grumbling about being woken early).

"Follow Mrathil." Xul commanded, and Bane reluctantly nodded, crushing the Traveler's Orb Xul tossed to him.

* * *

Skylark was not pleased.

Snowpeak was a cold, cold place. Her skins barely covered her Lizalfos form. Two hand axes hung at her hips, blowing in the merciless wind. She pulled the coat tighter around her, pacing the small clearing. Then the world blinded her.

Standing there in a massive, eight-foot tall frame, was her employer.

He stood up, robes and armor flowing around him, purple heart-shaped mask glaring at the world around. He looked around for a moment until he gazed at the Warrior.

"Ah, Skylark. You came." Mrathil smiled beneath his mask. Skylark curtsied slightly.

"Yes, m'lord. I await your next target." Skylark kept her head down not out of respect but out of comfort- the mask unnerved her. She could hear the amusement in the Hidden's voice.

"Your next target is a Hylian. His name is Link Son-of-None. He's in Garaniv, across the seas. A boat is waiting for you and your lover in the north." Mrathil then unsheathed a sword. Skylark snapped her head upwards fast enough to crack.

It was a _beauty. _A fine ash-colored pommel bound in red leather. The hilt of the blade curved like a U, ending in crimson flowers. The blade was soot grey, shining red in the light. Mrathil saw the lust plain in the Warrior's eyes, and then sheathed it. The change was surprisingly fast. But her eyes lit up again when Mrathil tossed the sheath to her. She caught it with two hands, gazing at the cloth sheath the color of a field.

"Your payment. For your last contract." Mrathil smiled at the youth. How strangely pretty a lizard could be at times. She looked up at Mrathil and nodded, smiling.

"It shall be as you say, m'lord." Skylark curtsied again. Mrathil nodded and disappeared as swiftly as he appeared. Skylark danced for a moment, swinging the sheath around and whooping like a madwoman.

* * *

In the base of Delaras, something horrible was brewing.

Xul walked through the hollowed caverns, boots not clanking on the metal. It was dark, but electric lights were strung overhead, so being in the base of a mountain was not all that bad.

Considering what he had come for.

Xul walked to the end of the hallway, which was a silo-shaped area a hundred feet high. The only object in the room was a warrior in highly advanced armor kneeling on the ground, one leg flat, grasping a sword in the ground. His armor was some manner of golden fiber plate that ran the length of his body. The armor was generic for the time period of its creation, but the _helmet _was the more interesting part. The helmet was shaped like a disfigured stone, an orange faceplate barring Xul from seeing the warrior's features. He seemed… bland. But Xul knew better, he had seen Divine Machines before.

"Activate." Xul commanded. The warrior began to rise, movements becoming fluid. He pulled out his sword, metal sealing the slot like a living being would stitch it's wounds. It stood at ten feet tall, and spotted Xul immediately.

"PASSWORD." The machine demanded, keeping his sword in his hand.

"Centurion- Black seven alpha frank." Xul responded, his own sword in the ground. The Centurion processed this, and then nodded.

"GREETINGS, MASTER. HOW MAY THIS UNIT ASSIST?" The Centurion put the sword on its back, an invisible sheath, before stretching out a hand. Xul shook it eagerly.

"Simply follow me, my Centurion." Xul beckoned.

* * *

Mrathil was excited, dancing a small bit as he entered the cave.

"Oh, Xul… I've got some important news…" Mrathil was uncharacteristically light-hearted.

Then the thing leaped out at him.

Reflexes lightning-fast as usual, Mrathil had his sword out to block the one nearly the size of him. It clanked on his sword loudly, before the weight lifted and the darkness slammed down on his miniature guard again, nearly shattering it.

"_Xul!" _In the darkness, the figure that held the sword two handed it and struck at Mrathil's blade again. "_What is this thing?!" _

"Cancel action!" Xul's voice roared. The blade that was hammering Mrathil stopped, and disappeared altogether. The Hidden breathed a sigh of relief, hands on his knees. Bane walked around him. _I'm getting old_, Mrathil realized. Xul walked… er, cut himself out of the darkness and approached Mrathil. "Our new toy. Say hello to the Centurion." The Centurion's golden armor shone as it reached out its hand to shake Mrathil's.

"So, first, there's an abomination of nature ("_Hey!_" Bane growled. "I have a name!), and now a giant… whatever this thing is."

"Robot." Xul clarified. Mrathil's eyes went wide. He had heard that term before.

_Robot _was another word for _Destroyer._

* * *

Maera was excited for the first time in a long time.

Not only had she been blessed with a savior, Turaan, but _now_? She was practically giddy.

Three feet in front of the duo an eight-foot tall plated warrior carrying a greatsword the size of her led them towards civilization. He had had a rough voice, like rocks breaking. Seeing him not swing his greatsword at them and instead protecting them gave her an even greater sense of security. She already felt safe with Turaan and his ability to summon Adkursag, but with Avnos around, she felt as safe as she would back in the caves.

As they trekked through the woods, golden light shining through the trees, she stole a few glances at her first savior. He seemed more focused on the light coming from the trees. One time, he caught her eyes. She smiled at him (not that he could see it), and he smiled back. Then she nearly walked into the Slayer's hand, held in a halt position.

Stretching out in front of them was a golden hill, light paving their path, until it hit the bottom.

The contrast was fierce.

The bottom of the hill was a blasted landscape, ground the color of mottled flesh, pores the size of buildings reaching up like disgusting children. Green molten rock erupted at random intervals, throwing chunks of black rock into the air. The sky had turned a harsh gray over the place.

"The Roaring Plains," Turaan whispered. "In all my life, I never thought it would get _this _bad…" Maera cocked her head at him. Avnos nodded, pointing to something moving.

She followed his finger, and found a four legged beast that from this distance she could not describe but knew it would try to kill them.

"Keep your eyes on things that aren't each other. We've got some big, big targets here." Maera blinked. How had he-?

Wait, _targets? _

"Are you saying that we're going to…" Maera left the question hanging in the air. Avnos simply nodded, unsheathing his greatsword as he jogged down the hill in giant steps.

* * *

"…with him?" Link was waking. That first voice had definitely been Ros.

"…you…sure?" Their helper. Kalyssa, Link thought it was.

"Si…medication…infection…it may not be…be treated." This was a foreign voice.

"How much?" Ros asked.

"Thirteen-hundred emeralds." Ros sighed.

"Oh my, that is a _lot _of money!" Kalyssa gasped.

"You use rock currency here?" To Kalyssa.

"Si, Monsieur..."

"Ros."

"Si, Monsieur Ros, we use stones as currency." Kalyssa responded. Ros groaned.

"Can you point me to an exchange center?" Link, still not having regained his vision, didn't see the direction she pointed to, but Ros said his thanks and Link heard footsteps moving away.

Then he opened his eyes.

The room he was in was small. Lined with herbs in jars and other things, his bed was in a corner near the only window in the room- the wall without ornaments. Midna sat on the edge of the bed, her black robes fiercely arguing with the white of the bed. A figure in blue robes and Kalyssa were conversing in the doorway. Midna noticed his stirring, and smiled.

"Hey, you." Midna smiled. Link tried to smile, but his body barely moved. He noticed that Midna's wound was now a simple line, as if she had taken a small scratch, not been bludgeoned. Then Link remembered what he saw.

"I saw him," When he spoke, Kalyssa turned to him. The blue robed man (the doctor, Link supposed) left, and Kalyssa approached him. "I saw that… thing from Hyrule," Midna's brow furrowed in thought, and Kalyssa opened her mouth to ask a question but was cut off by Link. "That thing in the air," Midna's eyes opened wide enough that, if she moved too fast, they may've rolled out of her head. "It called itself Xul."

"Xul?" Kalyssa and Midna asked in unison.

"Then we know the name of our enemy. That's a good thing," Link had not heard Ros return, but there he was. "Also, we don't have nearly enough money for the medicine that may or may not work. It's about thirteen thousand rupees." Link's jaw dropped.

"_Thirteen-thousand rupees for something that may or may not help me?!" _The mere thought bewildered Link. He also began to feel the infection- a small pain in his stomach.

It had begun.

* * *

Sola Merandas was terrified.

At the age of twenty-four, she was still living and working at her father's smithy. She had learned how to hammer metal and create swords, but right now, she could care less about skills. All she wanted to do was run.

Her father, the renowned drunk Ian Merandas, had come home insane again. Now she ran around the anvils and had tried to go up the stairs, but he had thrown a knife at her. He was sluggishly moving up the steps, trying to catch her. Removing the knife, Sola ran from her father, who had reached the top of the steps and was coming for her.

"Girly! You owe me a hundred emeralds. Giiiiirrrrlllllyyyy! Cooommmmeee baaaaaackkk!" Her father screamed as she barricaded the door to her room against the raging drunk. Strong as she was, her father was at least thrice as strong. A few years ago, she had nearly lifted a cart off of a man (she was part of a group) and was able to hold it for long enough for him to get out from under it. Ten years ago, Her father lifted a cart in the air and turned it upside down. That night, she cried herself, remembering her dead mother, and the conditions that forced this on her, as he hammered at the door.

Her father had killed her mother. She couldn't leave, no, not yet, for fear he would come for her and do worse things than beat her. So she was stuck, living in fear. Every night she had cried, wished herself that her living conditions were… different. She wished things could have worked out. Multiple times he had threatened to send her to the brothels, tied up like a slave. Considering the fact he frequented there, it would be no surprise if he had contacts there. She wondered where her sister had run off to. Sometimes, in the night, her father would sneak into her room and abuse her to try to find out where her sister had gone.

"Kaly... Why did you leave me here?" She whispered into the pillow.

Once again, in the small, windowless room on the metal bed, Sola felt her mother's embrace and went to sleep.

* * *

"So… this is Garaniv?" Danuvius asked Stallord, who was a walking skeleton with claws and horns and a maw. Stallord nodded.

They stood on the Faerin Peninsula, in the Moorlands, looking on to stretches of land and road. They were looking off a cliff, side by side. The vast ocean lay on the other side. Stallord sighed.

"It isn't much on the Peninsula, due to Terra Firma activities. Which, we need to visit." Stallord changed shape (an ability that his compressed form could manage) into a six foot tall armored knight with a spear on his back and a dagger on his waist. The steel and leather shone brightly in the morning sun.

"Are you ready?" Danuvius asked, holstering his gunblade. Stallord nodded.

"This, my friend, is our brave new world."

* * *

Whew! That was fun, no? Sorry for the short update, but like I said a few chapters ago, I like to leave things off on an edge. Quite the chapter, hmm? Just you wait, my dear reader: this is a new beginning for all of our characters. Yes, our characters. We shall go forth and you will see the ups and the downs- are you ready for a ride, friends? Good, then come with me- Garaniv awaits.


End file.
